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Continous NEWS of 2010 July-December
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June 30

My weapon is back


Back from repair and overhaul at ProCharger with some new updated
things. It's now like a completely new supercharger with all the new
modern items, like the hub which goes on the output shaft to mount
the pulley wheel on. Back in 2003 when I bought my F1R the pulley
went on directly on the shaft.


A change from my old 38 tooth pulley to the new 40 tooth pulley is
absolutely necessary to take down the spin / boost pressure of the
supercharger a bit, since the new internal drive have a ratio of 5.40
(instead of 5.00 before) And we want to avoid to spin the ProCharger
above 70,000 RPM, right? =)



June 28

On its way back today!


My ProCharger F1R is factory repaired and on its way back to us!
It was indeed an intenal wear of the 6 gear drive wheels so a whole
overhaul was needed. In that process it also has been updated
with today's internal gear drive which ratio actually make this
model spin 4000 RPM more! That together with a new external
pulley and some more new accessories from ProCharger
points towards even more power delivery!

...thanks to Queen Birgitta


It was Birgitta Bergqvist at Autoshop Racing Engines - my high
performance supplier - who again pulled some of her strings within
the American Automotive Industry! This time she managed to speed
up this deal with ProCharger so it went through in no time! She has
been well attached within the industry since when she and Bagarn
opened Autoshop in Orlando in the mid 80's and made a lot of friends
like Top Fuel driver Joe Amato (left) and late NASCAR-driver Neil
Bonnet (right). I don't remember who the guy in the middle was?
Anyway, thanks Birgitta for your awesome string-pulling!
(Photo above is on the wall at Autoshop)





June 25

Exotic Midsummer picnic


We chose to do something different for this years' midsummer lunch
instead of the traditional pickled herring and snaps at home. Like a
picnic among the daisies in the Botanical Garden in the middle of
Gothenburg. I haven't been inside here - not once - since I moved to
Gothenburg in 1986! I've heard about it but I didn't know it was this
large and beautiful! 430 acres of internationally awarded yard work!
Grand daddy Thore, Agneta, Axel and Granny Sonia did know...
...just forgot to tell me before. Like all my friends, work buddies...


Everywhere a mix of plants and trees from all over the world and small
signs telling you what it is. Thousands and thousands! This "The Rock
Garden" has received three stars in the Guide Michelin!


Even a small waterfall inside here and a walking passage underneath.


Agneta maneuvering to catch a big leaf from the exotic Chinese
Dove tree (näsduksträd) while Thore is maneuvering to catch a cup
of coffee from Axel. We saw a lot of exotic trees on our path
through this fantastic garden. A new tradition for us was born.


-No not yet! Shut up and go back inside! I'll tell you when it's time!
Inside the Gothenburg Botanical Garden they have a large
Rhododendron Valley with all the kinds of Rhododendron there are
on the planet. Before this day I thought it was only one kind,
like the one we have at home...



June 23

Dalsland draisine


Axel and Agneta were up to the cottage in Dalsland for a couple of
days. One day they decided to rent a draisine and went for an all
day tour on the railroad which was abandoned years ago. This is a
very popular thing among the tourists. In the picture Axel is
viewing beautiful lake Lelången close to Bengtsfors
when they finally arrived back, very tired...



Magic Cougar


Outside Jonas Alholt's garage we stumbled into this special Tiffany!


It's based on a 1986 Mercury Cougar. The Magician Vanheden
bought it new and of course thinks that this car is giving him the
right kind of entrances in his profession. I do to.



Change of dates and races!


Today I learned that the race at local Säve Depå is moved from July 10th to July 24th (and we're sorry,
but we will not race at Säve at that later date due to other commitments).
But we can still race at July 10th (ProCharger should be back then?) And that will be at the one-day
test'n'tune at Moholmstrippen. Fun thing is that the organizer MK402M have decided to end the day
with an all-in ladder where the winner takes it all - "Big Buck Bracket" - all classes in one ladder!
We like that! We'll come!
The always updated schedule of Blackout Full Size Racing here: >RACES_2010




June 21

Congratulations Linkan!


Clever


Poor


Handsome


Well dressed

On the longest day of the year - Linkan becomes 50 years old!
"The World's best looking man" (according to himself) is
Stefan "Linkan" Lindqvist in Umeå - Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray!
He cheated us all on the party and just disappeared into the woods
with his mother, but I promise that the thruth will conquer and we
will have a party to celebrate him...




June 20

Mattias in NASCAR debut!


Two time DTM Champion Mattias Ekström is wellknown as one of
the best race drivers in Sweden. Nornally racing Audi, the sponsor
Red Bull now had fixed a seat for him in a Grand National "Toyota"
in one of the road races on the NASCAR tour, at Infineon Raceway
in Sonoma, California. It was impressing to follow the race at
NASCAR.com with multi-cameras and updating leaderboard!


Mattias # 83 did well of course, he was leading for a while and looked
like he had learned this quickly. Most of the time he was in top five
and he was third when 30 laps was left of the 110, when suddenly
(above) one of "the good ol' boys" just put him in spin off the track
into the sand! The commentators cheered "Welcome to NASCAR!"
and laughed... So totally wrong!
Mattias came out again like # 33 (of 40+ drivers) and ended as # 21.
All in all, a good premiere! And if there will be more races there by
Mattias I believe the outcome will be totally different, Mattias said
when he started to race the tough DTM series in Germany
"I'm here to race, not to make friends"

http://www.mattiasekstrom.se/


Check out the video!


Multi angle view of the crash, check out Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch/EkstromVsKeselowski





PaparaSSi!


We sent out our SS-friend Ola "Gala-Petter" Åbergh on the streets
of Stockholm to get us our own unique captions from the Royal
wedding procession for the NEWS-page of www.blackout.nu and
the above shot is very large so if you click on the picture you'll
have the big one.
Strangely, I actually found another of my friends in this
picture! Can you find him? Amazing! Thanks Ola!



June 19

Royal buzz!


To celebrate the royal wedding - 18 SAAB JAS Gripen in a low fly-by
over the 500.000 gathered people on the streets of Stockholm.


Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel were riding horse carriage
around Stockholm after the wedding to wave to the cheering people.
On the stairs Queen Silvia, Princess Madeleine, Prince Carl Philip
and The King Carl XVI Gustaf.
The two latter ones are well known for their automotive interest!

The Swedish King Carl Gustaf's own cars:
Volvo PV - 1946
Ford Mustang - 1966
Pontiac GTO convertible - 1966
AC Cobra - 1966
De Tomaso Pantera - 1971
Porsche 911 Targa - 1973
Porsche 911 Carrera - 1987
Ferrari 456 - 1999
BMW M3 - 2003

The Swedish Royal Court's official cars:
Daimler - 1950
Cadillac - 1969
Daimler - 1990
VW Caravelle - 1997 (clean vehicle)
Chevrolet - 1999
Mitsubishi Pajero - 1999
Saab 9-5 - 1999
Mercedes-Benz - 2000
Lexus - 2005 (clean vehicle)
Mercedes-Benz - 2005
Porsche Carrera - 2005 (leasing)
Saab 9-5 - 2005 (clean vehicle)
Saab 9-5 - 2005 (clean vehicle)
Volvo V 70 - 2005
Volvo XC 90 - 2005
Volvo S80 - 2006
VW Caravelle - 2006 (clean vehicle)

The Racing Prince!


Charging hard in the Carrera Cup at the City track in Gothenburg!
Prince Carl-Philip of Sweden who has been racing since 2008!


"He is a good, tough racer and is getting better and better" said
former racer Chris Condor who also took theses pictures.
Roar Lindland to the left and Prince Carl Philip to the right.

The Royal Prince Medal
of Motorsports


On the painting the late "Motor Prince" Bertil who was loved in
Sweden and also made motorsports more accepted in Sweden.

Report from Lena Perés and Eurodragster.com:
9th May: Drag racing is now a well-known motorsport in in the
Swedish Royal Automobile Club (KAK) thanks to the good work
of FIA European Pro Mod Champion Mats Eriksson and his team last
year, writes Lena Perés. On Friday Mats was honoured with the
Royal Prince Medal of Motorsports and membership of the KAK
during a ceremony at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Mats made a
speech about drag racing and and explained how things work at the
races and around the vehicles. The KAK may now visit Mantorp
Park this summer to see for themselves what drag racers
do during the summer.
"We hope very much that this going to happen and if so we're going
to give them a warm welcome and also give them something to
remember for the rest of their lives", says Lena.
"Mats and the family are honoured to accept this prize not just for
themselves but for the sport. The ceremony was like nothing we have
ever been to. Mats would like to thank all of his supporters, team
and family who made this possible, and the Committee
who chose him for the prize."

The medal citation reads:
"During the 2009 season Mats Eriksson really put Sweden at the
international drag racing map. He became European Champion
in the FIA Pro Modified class and won the Nordic Dragracing
Series as well as the Swedish Championship.
He also became the first European to drive under the magic 6.0
second time in Pro Modified. This stunning and unbelievable
performance makes Mats Eriksson one of the most outstanding
drivers in Swedish motorsports. And for that he is now
presented with Royal Prince Medal of Motorsports 2010".

On the jury are three members of the Royal Automobile Club,
Christer Zetterberg (Chairman), Peter Wallenberg Jr (Vice Chairman)
and Philip von Mecklenburg;
two members of Svenska Bilsportsförbundet, Kåge Schildt (Chairman)
and Hans Hillebrink (Director), also Riksindrottsförbundet's
two directors Hans Hellquist and Anders Rydberg, and last but not
least two sports journalists, Ejeborg from Swedish Television
and Sven Gustavsson from Dagens Nyheter. Earlier recipients
of the Medal include Björn Waldegard, Ronnie Peterson, Stig
Blomqvist, Kenny Bräck, Mattias Ekström and Kenneth Hansen.
This was the nineteenth Medal to be presented since 1975.

(text soon)


Foggy mountains...


Kent arrived to the Sättna track outside of Sundsvall to race. But
fog and 100 % humidity almost cancelled the whole race. Sättna
is not really in the mountains but it is located on a high plateau.


Kent now had a new pair of slicks he really wanted to try...since the
last ones may have caused some bad tireshakes at the Fällfors
race? These new slicks are Hoosier 29 x 10 - 15 the same
model I use with great results..


Sundsvall Community sponsored some of the classes by paying
their entry cost! A nice gesture during the fog depression!


Luckily the sun won over the fog so all could run at least one round
to qualify, hoping to have a race on Sunday - weather permitting?


Kent finally got a chance and improved directly his personal best ET
to 10.193 (from 10.30) and top speed to 224 kmh! (from 219)
That is 139 mph and by that he has surpassed the best top speed
of Blackout SS which is 137.51 mph / 221 kmh!
That record run also makes Kent # 8 in world in top speed on the
Dynamic Impala SS Top ET List - including the all out race cars!
Congratulations Kent!
And we have our fingers crossed that you will have race weather
tomorrow and can continue your hunt for that 9 second run! And
especially the 9.84 of Blackout SS! =)
Here's the list: http://www.top-et.com/impalass/



June 18

Bolero X - 3rd generation!


Once again the seeds from the original Bolero tomato will give sweet
tomatos in the autumn. I planted eight of them in big final pots and
gave away the rest. Now just water and wait.

June 10

Axel unleashed!


At last! Axel can now rent the big carts! Whooosh!


It's a length rule of course, that decide if you should drive the "kid's
carts" (in the background) or if you can step up and drive the fast
ones. You must have the length to be able to reach the front wheels
so you can back out by hand if you crash into a barrier.


Axel loved the "grown-up cart" and drove quicker and quicker and
just loved the speed! And I have to realize that nothing is holding
him back anymore. With half the weight of his daddy and at least
as good driver I see that Axel will take over and I will be the
one shouting "Wait!" inside the helmet! =)



June 8
Check! .V


The whole story behind the successful inspection of the Blackout SS
collected on one page. The issues - and how - and by whom
they were solved. Check it out:
>Inspection_2010



Approved!


NEWSBREAK! Blackout SS is approved by Svensk Bilprovning for
use in traffic, at last! It is even more legal now than it was when I
bought it in 2000! Because this time was without any remarks!
Of course I'll be back with full report ASAP!
Cheers!




June 3

A visit at Gaisarn's place


It's always nice to bring it out on the roads like a normal car. And
today we had a special mission to make it even more normal...


Filling up E85 (ethanol) at the gas station. That together with VP's
Motorsport racing fuels 109 and 103 I'm sure we can find a healty
mix. And it's good to have a large trunk like this when carrying big
things like these jugs.


No doubt about it, we're at Gaisarn's place! GAIS? An old local fotball
(soccer) club in Gothenburg which normally isn't among the best, but
it seems that GAIS have the most lovingly fans, like Gaisarn.


Gaisarn in his "fikahörna" - relax corner, in his auto shop. A nice guy!
His phone number is +46 31-45 76 80


We're here to tune the emissions on the Impala SS and here we
find the right kind of instruments to do that.


Mixing fuels and lowering the fuel pressure were the tricks this
evening. Jonas Alholt seems to master everything around engines,
like the diesel engine engineer he is at Volvo.


The race cats was almost glowing during this evening.


And see! Final result was CO 0.39 (0.50 allowed) and HC 0, that's
ZERO! (100 allowed). Wow! And this is a possible way to drive the
SS between races. But not in the races...=)


Gaisarn showed me a lot of hard-to-get Ford stuff, like this cross ram
intake! "It's so rare it's almost like it doesn't exist" said Gaisarn! It
reminds me of the "Smokey ram" intake which Smokey Yunick
developed for Chevy smallblock, and which good friend, late Lennart
"Bagarn" Bergqvist bought and used on his 66 Chevy Nova.


1969 Talladega - like straight from the Holman Moody garage! One
of 745 NASCAR-homologation built! Sometimes a Chevy guy like
me just give in and softens up beside a Ford.


Gaisarn's everyday car, a new Shelby. Thank's for the help with the
emissions tuning Gaisarn! Now I can go back to the Svensk
Bilprovning inspection to get the SS approved for use in traffic!





June 1

Classy delivery


Sören "Fixarn" Fjellstedt and daughter Alice came by today in a
highly fashionable way! You could see this 1958 Impala on this
page two month ago on April 1 (scroll down) when it was still in San
Francisco. Over there it was loaded with my fresh new Hoosier
slicks. And now after this important delivery this remarkable Impala
will be registred for Swedish traffic and continue its tour through
Sweden to the new happy owner in the north! It's things like these
and much more that "Fixarn" fixes. Thanks for the delivery!




May 30

Dramatic FIA season start


Rolf Amman killed the christmas tree! Not a popular thing to do...


Melanie Troxel didn't disappoint anyone. She and the other pro's in
the Roger Burgess' team around Al Billes read this foreign all-asphalt
track just right and put on a 6.57 to safely qualify in the first round.
Due to rain they only had two rounds and in the second attempt
Melanie put herself in 7th spot with a 6.24 and the highest top speed
of all so far: 239.85 mph / 386 kmh! (European speed record in Pro
Modified is 241.59 mph / 388.81 kmh by Mats Eriksson in 2009)


But No 1 qualifier all day was Johan Lindberg in their new Firebird!
Began with a stunning 6.08 in first round! In round two Graham
Ellis was No 1 with a 6.07 just for a short while before the youngsters
in "The New Generation" came out again and shocked everybody
with a 6.01 - Europe's second quickest! Hey, what's next, when they
have learned the car and the track? Don't miss the Finals today:
www.eurodragster.com/santapod/live/2010fiamainevent

Pro Mod Final qualifying
(results from Eurodragster.com)

1. Johan Lindberg 6.0145/232.43
2. Graham Ellis 6.0743/232.46
3. Andy Robinson 6.1292/228.15
4. Bruno Bader 6.1681/203.33
5. Mats Eriksson 6.2106/235.18
6. Micke Gullqvist 6.2261/223.42
7. Melanie Troxel 6.2431/239.85
8. Freddy Fagerström 6.2529/224.50
9. Roger Johansson 6.4349/219.18
10. Adam Flamholc 6.4637/166.07
11. Marco Maurischat 6.4764/215.13
12. Urban Johansson 6.6263/221.43
13. Micke Lindahl 6.7296/216.86
14. Jan Gunnarsson 6.8262/208.17
15. Marko Lantto 6.8301/215.11
16. Terje Håkonsen 6.8881/199.76
Not Qualified
17. Roger Moore 7.0680/no speed
18. Kev Slyfield 7.5480/153.10
19. Marcus Hilt 7.7326/185.00
20. Bert Englefield 7.8689/127.32
21. Ray White 8.0641/128.45
22. Henri Joosten 8.5913/129.18
23. Wayne Nicholson 10.5991/92.91


Our good friends Rick McCann and Carla Pittau qualified # 20 and
# 12 respectively in "my class" - the toughest one! - Pro ET with 37
competitors fighting for the 32 spots in the ladder. After 7 qualification
rounds the bump spot had a 0.0950 second vs. Dial-In.

Kent's new speed record


Season premiere for Kent at the Fällfors track outside of Skellefteå
(where we raced with Karl Ellwein and Ola Åbergh in 2008)
So how should the manually shifting work? And the new hood with
cold intake, and all other small and secret changes? Why that
cigarette? Kent doesn't even smoke...


Also Kent's brother Sune was teasing me with a cigaratte! Ha! I don't
go there anymore, I stopped smoking at New Years Eve 150 days
ago! And I stopped using "snus" 46 days ago. I'm nicotine clean!


However Kent smoked good in the burnouts and heard some
complaints afterwards that it was too loud... I say enjoy it!


Well, Kent didn't get any traction even if this track was prepared.
And there's no help in shifting manually when it revs out in a blink!
30 psi of boost happens quickly when the rear tires jumps off the
ground... 10.592 @ 219 kmh (136 mph) was the best he could
do at this time and he is now looking for more traction... That speed
is a new personal best, last year he had 217 (135 mph).
However, Kent Edin's personal best ET is 10.307 according to
this very important list:
Impala SS Dynamic Top ET




Mother's Day Kransekake


Axel's latest creation! A kransekake for Mother's Day! I was truly
amazed that he made this! I haven't been close in doing such a
thing in alla my life, so this kitchen talent is all from mum.


He did it from start with drawing and cutting the templates of the
rings, then making the rings. Of course it was a success when he
was done! Thanks Axel! Click the link above to get the recipe.



May 26

Melanie Troxel is HERE!


(Click image to see a short film on who this woman really is!)

She is here at Santa Pod in England to kick some male Pro Mod
asses during the FIA season opening Main Event this weekend!
But why should I be home in Sweden and miss that? It's unfair!!!!
Read this Tog-written report from Eurodragster.com:

"Troxel and A-Team head for Santa Pod.
26th May: Europe cheered when US team owner Roger Burgess
borrowed Michael Gullqvist to drive for him at NHRA's Southern
Nationals with historic, winning results. Just two weekends
later, Burgess will return the favour when he deploys a crack
NHRA squad to challenge Europe's finest Pro Mod racers
at the FIA Main Event. And Europe's élite gentleman racers
will really need to be on their mettle.

Things have moved swiftly and decisively, as they usually do
with Mr Burgess. The 1968 Chevrolet Camaro which Michael
Gullqvist drove to a Gatornationals runner-up finish in March,
with clockings of 5.827 seconds and 248.84 mph, is being
airfreighted to Santa Pod. Its driver at The Main Event will be
blue-chip American superstar Melanie Troxel. An NHRA National
event winner in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Fuel Dragster and
Funny Car who once topped 332 mph in Top Fuel, Ms Troxel
began applying her driving talents to Pro Mod for Burgess' R2B2
team last year. Just fourteen drivers have won NHRA national
events in both Top Fuel and Funny Car; Troxel is the
only female among them.

In 2006, she was elected Sportswoman Of The Year by the
USA's Women's Sports Foundation, joining past winners such as
Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and golf's Annika Sörenstam,
and was nominated as both Driver and Female Athlete Of The
Year in ESPN's ESPY Awards.

Heading the crew will be ace Canadian tuner and ex-Pro Mod
driver Al Billes, supercharger king Darren Mayer and team
manager Travis Rice.

Pro Mod at The Main Event just got seriously serious".

Why? The future is here!


Starting in 2011, Pro Mod racing will get a true World Championship!
(Did Micke "Gullan" Gullqvist open doors or not?)

Copied from http://www.promodifieds.us:

(05-26-10) DULUTH, GA - Roger Burgess, owner of the R2B2 Pro Mod
racing teams and the vision behind the Get Screened America Pro Mod
Drag Racing Series, is announcing the formation of the World Wide
Pro Mod Association, a conglomeration of Pro Mod sanctioning bodies
that will coordinate a Worldwide Pro Mod Challenge.

"Pro Mod is a class I love and it's the most popular form of drag racing
globally," Burgess said. "Bringing all the world's best Pro Mod racers
together has been a dream of mine and now is the perfect time
for this bold first step."

The Challenge will be an Olympic-style competition run under NHRA
rules. Currently six countries -- the U.S., Canada, England, Sweden,
Finland and Germany -- use NHRA rules for their races. Tracks in the
various countries will bid to hold the event at their facilities. More
countries will be added as they adopt NHRA rules for
their associations.

Each country will be required to bring five cars but only enter four cars
in the Team competition. One car from each team will be designated
as an alternate during each race. Alternates will be allowed to try to
qualify for a separate individual championship and may compete in the
Team competition should the Team Coach decide to enter them. (The
coach may choose any four cars to participate in each match).
Matches that end up in a tie will result in each team getting 1/2 point.

On Friday and Saturday, the countries will race in a round-robin,
match-style race where they will get one (1) point for each round win
and one (1) point for each match win with a total of five (5) points per
match up for grabs. After each country has raced all the other
participating countries,
the two countries with the highest point totals will race off for the
Worldwide Pro Mod Team Championship.

Additionally, the 16 quickest individual drivers from the Country
Competition will race a conventional elimination ladder on Sunday with
the overall winner being crowned the Worldwide Pro Mod Champion.

Beyond the competition, the WWPMA will help its members with
marketing, Web development and hosting, a rules committee, and an
online store with profit sharing back to the teams and associations.

"We think it will be an event like no other," Burgess said. "The
response to Sweden's Michael Gullqvist's NHRA win in one of my
team cars really opened the world to what we are doing with Pro Mod.
I've been working on a world event like this for a couple of years, and
now after the overwhelming positive response to Michael's win it
seems like the perfect time to make this move."
__________________
Promodifieds.US - Join .US for the latest in Pro Mod Action

Wow!






May 25

Blackrace report done


I became both glad and sad this evening at the first test of the year.
The link below will take you to the page where you can choose to
take a look at the report by clicking the red banner. Enjoy!
>RACES >2010

May 20

The Shootout result


Do you remember the filming shootout between "Mr Bjare" and
"Impalakungen" at the Veidec Raceway in Malmö May 1-2 ?
(You scroll down to refresh your mind). Here comes the result
on their own YouTube channels respectively. I'm not sure there
is a winner in this shootout, except for us viewers of course...

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrBjare
VS.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Impalakungen


Filming in 300 frames per second can be the last thing you do...





May 18

Hot burnin' film clip


Until the report are done from our season first test at the Blackrace
you can enjoy Jonas Alholt's short film from the event. This clearly
show the problem Blackout SS (and everyone else) had on a
track which was "spring cold" and unprepared... Click here:
www.youtube.com/BlackoutDowntownBananpiren



May 17

The Mother of all cakes


Thanks Axel for making this large cake which looked like the
classic Prinsess cake but had so much more goodies inside;
strawberries, rasberries, blueberries, blackberries...and vanilla
cream and more! And - it didn't became an overkill! Mmmm!!!
And thanks to all of you who also remembered me on my
birthday on the National Day of Norway! =)




May 16

"Gullan" made History!

"First European that have won a NHRA National event!"
Congratulations to Michael "Gullan" Gullqvist, Hässelby, Stockholm!
Gullan finally got one of these Wally trophies to take home to Europe
and Sweden! It was a tense drama when Gullan won the Final Round
of Pro Mod in Atlanta at the Southern Nationals, but no surprise,
since he ran the final at Gatornationals as well.
This story is so good and you can read it at Competition Plus:

competitionplus.com/european-driver-travels-to-us-for-historic-victory

The NHRA Pro Mod ladder




May 14

First test of the year


We went downtown to the STCC-track at Bananpiren for the season
opening Blackrace. It was good to shake it and see that everything
was fine before the race at Moholmen next weekend May 22-23.
Both good and bad findings! The problem with the
hot-headers-burn-sparkplug-wires seem to have been solved. And
the shift third gear is working! But the ProCharger F1R supercharger
is now in an urgent need of service and new internal parts! Sorry,
no racing for us at Moholmsstrippen this time. Maybe later this
summer! Well, this is why you do test runs, to find problems
before they grow to big. We did only three runs and had big
traction problem, everyone had that. Noted a weak 7.56 as a best.
Jonas Alholt (left) both helped me and filmed and took pictures. I will
be back with a report as soon as I can. Meanwhile you can find a lot
of pictures of all cars and a report on Mårten Carlsson's terrific blog:
http://svammelsurium.blogg.se




May 11

An even larger car!


A 1994 Buick Roadmaster wagon turned up on our driveway today
and made its cousin - our Impala SS - look a bit smaller than usual.


Michael Hernvall has built on his Roadmaster for three years and
didn't really know about me or my website until just recently! And
he's from only a couple of blocks away! There are of course a lot of
similarities between our cars since they are both B-bodies.
His visit made some changes on my >4SALE page...
Michael is representing samlarbilar.se together with two other guys
and this is the collect car of his own choice.


The engine is a LT1 396 stroker and is built by Golen Engines in
New Hampshire, USA. Only 200 miles on it yet.


Big 20 x 8,5" Boss 304 wheels. Big brakes.




May 6

First iPhone film uploaded


How Jonas, Axel, Björn Johansson and I started up the Blackout SS
inside the garage and almost got choked of the smoke...
Not an Oscar-Winning film maybe, but it definitely show the
happiness when a car is started up again after a long winter!
I filmed with my iPhone, put the files in my MacBook Pro, edited it
in Final Cut Pro and from there uploaded directly to YouTube.
The usename Bostic was already taken (!) so I chose Blirro as
a username, and will file films under that name in the future.
youtube.com/BlackoutSS_FirstUpstart2010




May 4

It's for sale! A bargain!


Smokey kept it for the future! His radical 1967 NASCAR Chevelle built
for the 1968 Daytona 500 - which never got the permit to race. It was
loaded with stuff!!! Hahaha! And still is! In this ad on ebay you can
enjoy good reading about the car and also see many unique pictures
from inside and underneat and of the engine!
ebaymotors/Smokey-Yunick-Chevelle-1968-DAYTONA-500


May 3

Jeezus alive again!


Our beloved Jeezus-engine started without hesitation of course. Then
it ran for five minutes to break in the new headers wraps made of
lava rock - which should stand 1800° F - and did!
But they smoked like they were on fire!
Afterwards they looked like new, wasn't even miscolored! I filmed
this lucky re-birth with my iPhone and I tried to put it up on Youtube
but something was missing there. Sorry. I'll be back later with that
little clip. Most important now is that it is alive and it seems that
we have solved that "burning cables" issue!
I'll put the Blackout SS on ground anyday now and take it for a spin!
Yahoo! Summer is here already in May! I haven't been ready with
this car so early in the season since 2001!
Feels great!




May 1-2

More evidences show up!


Sten Brunnström from The Bounty Hunter team sent two pictures
which clearly show how the new age drag racing photographers
are taking over at the starting area. Sten thinks it clearly has gone
too far when they have to wrestle and throw away photographers
who are competing each other, during the staging procedures!


Jonas Alholt who was flaunting his "camera glider" for Göran "Bjäre"
Bjäreborn did not succeed in his mission when Per Bengtsson
spread out loads of nitromethane around his Super Twin Bike!
Jonas just had to give up here!.



Bjäre's version


This is Jonas at Veidec Raceway in trying to outpower Göran
Bjäreborn in photo creativity, according to Göran himself. That is
what's going on between them when they meet at a drag race.

Swedish drag premiere


Meca Raceway has now changed to Veidec Raceway. This well
prepared 1/8 mile track in Malmö, south of Sweden, opened this
season with a Test'n'tune weekend. Göran Bjäreborn was there, on
his knees. And Jonas Alholt too, standing behind, as they're
following Adam Flamholc's Pro Mod Camaro into stage.


Jonas is experimenting with the HDR function, to use different parts
from three exposures - normal, too light and too dark. Flamholc
Had some tireshake but could produce a best 60's of 0.982 sec!


Lindberg Brothers set all on their toes when running a track record
with their new 68 Firebird Pro Mod.
3.998! Wow!
What a start of the season and with the new car! 60's was 0.990.
Trap speed on this 1/8 mile run was 182.42 mph/ 293.58 kmh
What a hillarious Pro Mod season this can be!


See how dedicated these men are to photographing drag racing.
Especially Göran who really is crawling in front of the team members
to find new fresh angles! Like here when the "Bounty Hunter", the
new turbo-Camaro of Jonas Hall is testing out!


See! Even after they had thrown him out from the track because he
was in the way of all the teams in the starting area, he managed to
come back inside and get unbelievable pictures! Göran Bjäreborn!

Last work done!


It's soon time to start it up again. Last mod is done. Wrapping is now
easily executed and it feels like I haven't done anything else in my
whole life. Could almost whistle while doing it.


The warm sun convinced us to take a coffee break. This stuff is
important for us. But it was too hot after a while. Nice.


I believe that only two of the eight indestructible ceramic spark plug
boots were destructed last year, so from a whole new kit from Birgitta
at Autoshop I began to make two new spark plug boots/wires.
And since you can't buy them in smaller quantities I now have
100 straight terminals and 100 90 degree terminals...


I hope the difference between last year and today will be enough for
the survival of the spark plug boots and spark plug wires! It looks
like it, but...? The whole story here with more and larger images:
>EXHAUST_ REWORK




May 1

Key Lime Pie


Agneta made a Key Lime Pie to our families' dinner. It was fantastic!
We fell in love with this Florida pie in Key West years ago and
Agneta can really make it so we can relive it over and over again.
Svenskt recept: receptcentralen.se/brod-och-bak/key-lime-pie
Recipe: gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Food-History-/key-lime-pie


Best friends. Grand daddy Thore and Axel.




April 26-28

It's already Summer in
The Netherlands


I was glad that I had a short work mission in Delft, The Netherlands.
In that way I got to enjoy +20° C and more for a couple of days.
When I had a chance I borrowed a free bike at the IKEA store (only
for staff and guests) and went to town centre.


My iPhone have a "Bird focus" feature so whatever I'm aiming at it
always sets focus on any birds in the picture. Like here at one of the
canals in Delft. This was the first outdoors icecream for me this
year. Axel had one in London in February 17 (scroll down)


Sorry about that! Old heavy leaning buildings are seen elsewhere than
in just Pisa, Italy. Like this church in Delft. I've also seen one in
Bologna, Italy.


An espresso at downtown square, in outdoors café. Aaah!


Did I say work? Yes, this is what I did. I brought my MacPro Book
with the Final Cut Pro editing program and a big separate hard disc
with the heavy project. At IKEA's HQ I hooked up with their projector
and could then show the latest progress of the project. I also brought
a bag with small Bose loud speakers. It was worth that extra sweat.


The store is in the same building and in its IKEA restaurant you can
always find "swedish meatballs" and lingonberry juice. You can
everywhere. IKEA is like an embassy for all Swedes living abroad.


This was my first outdoor beer in 2010! Cheers!




April 23

Long winter is over


Now it's time to get rid of the boxes with the empty shells of the
winter survival fluid. Plan is to open the doors next weekend and
let the sun in - and exhaust fumes out. Haven't started this early in
season since 2001 when I still had the original engine! Well, I have
learned that "don't count your chickens before they're hatched."


It's a wrap!

It was a wonderful day with the Blackout web site music playing and
sun shining. It was a first time for me with the exhaust wrap and it's
just like with all other first time mods, just think and go along.
When you are finished you are the expert!


Only issue for me was the fastening solution, a stainless strap which
was impossible to really tighten to the bottom, but that's the way it
should be according to the manufacturer. Well let's see what happens
after a vibrating season? However, this wowen material was a treat
to apply! It was no sales bullshit! It felt like it really stuck to the
tubes and become a tight fit! Wonderful construction so far!


How beautiful it is! It should withstand 1800° Farenheit directly
and 2500°F radiant heat - (980 / 1370° C).

Just another nice picture, isn't it?


Oh, it's so nice for me to see this picture, knowing that this side is
done, ready for start up. The tight clearence between the middle
tubes # 3 and 5 made it impossible to wrap them all the way from
the flange. I dind't want the hazzle of wrapping them both together
and hide the middle flange bolt. It would look great on picture but I
would curse everytime I tried to take off the headers. And remember
the reason of this whole project - to lower the temp for the spark plug
boots # 5 and 7. It is done. I guess? Now it's just wait and see how
many minutes it takes before it burst into flames anyway? =)

More epic pictures - and larger ones - on this remarkable mod:
>EXHAUST_ REWORK

April 22

Gentle Giant Shifter ready


Kent has been hot rodding his SS to make his aftermarket shifter
to fit. As you know Kent will shift manually this year, skipping the
"electronic" shifting which hasn't been working for Kent, either.


I'm looking forward to see how this will work! I may change to this
set- up as well if it works fine, which it should? Kent is aiming for the
Gold Town Spring Nats in Fällfors, Skellefteå May 28th but he's
waiting for the new clutch package to his 4L80E and the ash
clouds has been stopping this so far...

April 14

Lava is everywhere!


The headers wrap and accessories has arrived from Birgitta at
Autoshop. It came just in time before the ash cloud blocked all air
traffic in Europe!
It's only named Titanium but the real material is far more impressive!
It's actually made of Lava rock! From Iceland? It's pulverized lava rock
which is stranded into a fiber material and is engineered to be stronger
than typical wraps on the market today - according to DEI's info.
It's said to handle 1800° Farenheit directly and 2500°F radiant heat.
(980 / 1370° C). I'll be back when I have solved the attachment riddle.




Stumpy's solution


Glen "Stumpy" Koenig runs a Big Block in his SS so it's rather
tight. To be able to run this larger and modified oil tray to earn
horsepower and get more oil running - you must modify the SS.


"Stumpy" modifying the SS...And as our common friend Karl Ellwein
noted; nice work gloves!


The front axle frame had to be cut.


Celeste is not missing a detail when she takes pictures of her man!


Yup!


Since "Stumpy" is living close to Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins in
Pennsylvania, USA he must of course have a fat cigar in his
mouth, dipping into the picture.


Mock up looks good!


Just place it and weld it. New piece of frame is thicker and should
be stronger than the original! Thanks Glen and Celeste for the tips.






April 10

Headers Weld Done!


Today Jonas showed up in '64 style and proved the winter is over!
And he brought a pizza, one (1) pizza! And last time I counted we
were two (2) of us in the garage. He offered a slice but I was satisfied
with the things he had in his trunk - a mobile TIG welding kit...


Always fun to flaunt the iPhone-Facebook magic for Jonas. This time
he suddenly saw himself eating pizza on Facebook... Fun fun fun!


The reason for him to drag the welding equipment to my garage was
that the # 2 tube had to be tack welded in place, or else it was a risk
that it wouldn't fit in it's place. The same thing with # 1 tube. It's
because these tubes are the ones that can be taken off separarely
and are not welded to the header flanges with the rest.


The finishing welds were done in the vice. And Smokey Yunick
overviewed that Mr Al Holt kept his high standard.


That's it! The reworked headers are finished! I'm waiting for the
headers wrap from Birgitta at Autoshop. That will also help in keeping
the temperature down around the spark plugs and cables.
Thank you very much Jonas! Weld Done again!
All about the rework here: >EXHAUST_REWORK


I love the lustreless finish on Jonas' engine. Grinded, but clean
and not rusty! And these water tubes go well with it.




April 7

Secret Season


It was nice to meet Patrick Wikström at TBDGIT again. I asked him
about the Pro Mod season 2010 and he said it will be a "secret
season" for Team Thriller and he was almost sure it won't be a run
for the complete FIA series. First of all he will take the research &
development of his "Boss Blower" project as far as possible to see
what it can give. Last season's testing gave very good indications!
-Yes indeed, but the racing itself was in the way of my work on this,
especially having to deal with breakage of the rear end and
engines too, which wasn't related to the blower experiments...
- Seasons are so short here so can't both race and do R&D.
It's too %@&#$ expensive as well. I have to choose.
So you won't need a track to get your verifications on your work?
- At some stage I will of course, but I still can make basic PSI-
readings of running the engine on the 2-step in the car on jacks
outside the garage.
- I did last year when comparing a couple of real good blowers to
mine and that told me I'm well ahead, even if my Boss Blower
wasn't finished, but don't write anything about that...
Of course not, I promise.
- And take no pictures either buddy!
No no no.
- I wish "Bagar'n" (Lennart Bergqvist, Autoshop Racing Engines.
Ed's note) was still alive so I could send to him both engines
and blowers to do some serious tests for me.
We hope to get to see Patrick racing at least at the FIA-race
Veidec, Mantorp?





April 6

Shots from Santa Pod


Patrik Jacobsson has just released his album of action pictures from
the Easter Thunderball at Santa Pod, like Rick McCann in his 1984
Camaro "Heaven & Hell As Well" in the new paint - and old angle.
This will be a sight also at Veidec Nitro Festival at Mantorp, Sweden
in July as Rick is waiting for the new engine from Phoenix, USA
which will put him in GT/CA or GT/DA in Stock/Super Stock, a class
he has been wanting to race for a long time, but can't find in the UK.
Wife Carla will leave her Camaro "Heaven & Hell" at home for that
race but will then race at Hockenheim.
More from Patrik:
www.racebilder.nu

Always a collection from every raceday by professional photographer
Roger Gorringe at Eurodragster:
www.eurodragster.com/AutoTraderEasterThunderball

At Facebook you can find the group Strip Snappers which was
started by Mark Skinner and collects excellent footage taken from
the grand stands at Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway:
www.facebook.com/StripSnappers




April 5

Tjorven 2008 - 2010


Tjorven was found dead today in her cage by Axel and his friend
Hugo so they went out for a burial ceremonial right away. The dwarf
hamster (Phodopus) twins Tjorven and Stina came to us in April 11
2008 as our first hamster Basil was put to s-p-l-e-e-p that day
due to his big tumour. Stina is still ok but of course thinks it
is lonely after her twin sister has passed.
Thanks Tjorven for all the fun!


Öhman has a camera!


My friend Thomas Öhman in Umeå has talked a long time about
getting himself a digital camera. Now he suddenly did it! A Canon
IXUS130IS (black) with 28 mm wide angle! Last camera he had must
have been an Instamatic? In just a moment he forced someone in
his family to take this picture, with himself by the new dishwasher!
They're having their kitchen rebuilt but the only thing that's finished
to show is the dishwasher! Note that lighting inside! Wow!


Next victim was daughter Victoria who - together with mom Marita - is
designing, manufacturing and marketing show clothes for people in
Western Horse sports. But I think that the clothes on the picture are
bought at Konsum?


Then Öhman went outside his house and wandered between garages
in Umeå to find pictures for us. This is Albin Frank's SC-dragster
he bought from another Umebo, Christer "Hagge" Haglund


Here he found Mats "Masken" Karlsson by his Super Gas-rod.
Ready to go. I think in Umeå they want summer just as bad as us
in the rest of Sweden but they have more snow left.
A thing they will never confess over the phone or in pictures.
Thanks for the fine pictures! Send more!




April 4

80.558 visitors!
Agneta, her dad Thore, Axel and me were 4 of them.


The Impression. The world's "most expensive hot rod". Everything
is handmade! 6 years and 10.000.000 SEK! Owner Ken Reister,
Colorado. Builder Chip Foose, who was on hand to write autographs
at Bilsport Performance Show & Custom Show in Jönköping!
There were long que lines both here and there, at the same time.
That was because Chip was moving around between places which
had him as an attraction on signing autographs. He really had a
tough schedule! And he was one of the reasons this show got a
new all time best visitor figure. John D'Agostini and Bernt Karlsson
too. I also saw Svenne Hedlund from Hep Stars there...


Half of Chip's staff in Huntington Beach is Swedish and Chip thinks
that Swedish customizing craftmanship is world class. And funny
too I might add! I would like to see the driver enter this VW, with
that top hat that obviously belongs to the driver's gear!


One of 70 in the world. Dodge Daytona 426 Hemi! What can I say?


Bilsport magazine has a yearly poll among their readers - Sweden's
Most Beautiful Car - that has been on since 1975 I think? In 2009
Johan Eriksson won with his black Dodge Charger 1968.
This is the engine bay...


Fantastic! "French Connection" was Boyd Coddington's last creation.
V12! Bernt Karlsson was back home again and showed it here in
Jönköping. After a while I stopped to take photos. No meaning in
showing you iPhone images in a world where all show you really
good quality pictures, like my friend Mårten Carlsson at his
Svamellsurium blog, so much much much more here:
svammelsurium.blogg.se




April 3

Happy Easter to you all!


A wonderful day out in Gothenburg, Sweden to change to summer
wheels on Ol' Faithful Dodge Grand Caravan. Drove it down to the
gas station to have a flat surface to work on. Now it feels like
summer and since the wheels with the spikes are gone it
also sound like summer. The Dodge is quiet!


Axel took his stuff outside, electric and all.


Agneta worked for hours in the kitchen with our Easter dinner.
French reciepe. We were having her parents over.


Sole à la normande! Thank you my wife! Dry white wine to this.


Fresh potatoes from Morocko and Spanish Cava...


Part 3 on its way


The report of the 3rd and last leg of the international Impala adventure
in Norrland in 2008 is soon done and will be published here!
This picture of the three blacks of Impala SS is taken in Ånäset
close to Burträsk after the race at Fällfors July 20. Hold on!

Please read the first two legs of the adventures here (click banner)






April 2

Here we go again!


They've been running for weeks already at Santa Pod in England!
But the Easter Thunderball is the first big race of the season.
We look forward to see what Roger Goring will do in his Jet car
"Firestorm" and we have a bunch of Top Fuelers, Funny Cars,
methanol cars and the likes that open the season here this weekend.
Andy Robinson, Graham Ellis and friends in Pro Modified!
And in Pro ET - the new appearance of Rick McCann's 1984 Camaro
"Heaven and Hell As Well" with the 407 engine, together with wife
Carla Pittau in the original "Heaven and Hell" 1971 Camaro
with 434 engine. And many more racers and their improved cars!
Eurodragster is the one stop shop for all of this, with Tog live
reporting, Simon from the pits, pictures, live radio and the 60 sec
live webcam. It has been raining small showers but I see
that they are putting out Gold Dust now..
Go here:
eurodragster.com/SantaPod/live/2010EasterThunderball

Let the 2010 European Drag Racing season start!




...or if you are
into Tug boats?


I wonder what kind of beers they are, back there? Hm?
www.tugboatlars.se





Flashback -
last minute with Whiplash


This was the moment when I sold Whiplash and handed over the keys
the new owner Kåre Sigerset from Molde in Norway. I have just pulled
out the Camaro from Chris Condor's barn where I had it parked since
I moved to Gothenburg in 1986. The 5-speed Doug Nash was earlier
sold to Gotland and the 355 engine shortblock and special headers
with AR- cones was pulled out and stored for future adventures.
However, the clever guy storing the things for me, both raced my
engine in his own car and then sold it, without even telling me!
I can't still believe it's true! More later...


So what happened to Whiplash in the hands of Kåre and his team of
Trond Hoel and Tor-Helge Husevold (thanks for the pictures!!)
Here's from Gary's Doorslammer Nationals at Santa Pod in 1988 (The
race that we won with this car in 1984, and broke a driveshaft in 1985
in losing the semi to David Pollen who had a yellow... Zephyr?)


Now Kåre went all the way to the Final to meet - Dave Pollen (!) Opel.
Yellow must have been highest fashion in 1988! Kåre lost already in
the burnout when he killed his engine (had to rev-limiter). Dave went
on to win and eventually ended up in Pro Modified in the 90's.


Lennart "Bagarn" Bergqvist at Autoshop had built him a 540 BB on a
Mark IV block, Brodix heads, roller cam and a 1050 BG carburator.
Some 700 hp without NOS nitrous, and closer to 950 hp with it.
Kåre ran 9.6's with a powerglide and a 4800/5000 rpm converter.
To see these pictures a bit larger and to read more
about Whiplash please visit:
>WHIPLASH



April fools!

I wish I could buy a 1958 Impala in mint condition, but not as long as
we're racing the 96 Impala SS. Later perhaps. However, this ice blue
Impala is really on it's way to Sweden to a happy guy up north!
It will first arrive in Gothenburg in the hands of "Fixarn" and then I
will get my new slicks and tubes from the trunk
Sorry if my lie did hurt you in anyway! =)



April 1

BLUEIN is here!


Tada!!
My newly bought Impala 1958 is the first Impala ever - the forefather!
This one is in mint original condition in-and-out and has only 2010
miles on it!! We have been searching for a Impala like this for a
long time! I'm sorry they were not made in black!
In 1958 the Impala was a top-of-the-line-option of Biscayne before
Impala turned into a model of it's own. The 6 rear lights is an Impala
design special. I will mount a hitch on it so I can tow the Blackout
Impala SS on a trailer to the races.
First and last Impalas! Bluein and Blackout!
The picture is from the loading at the San Fransisco port and I
want to thank Sören "Fixarn" Fjällstedt for the help finding it and
the help with the transport home! It's now in Gothenburg and I will
receive it at Nordtrafik at noon today! See you there for a ride
and free balloons for the kids!!
We will drive Bluein to Jönköping for the Bilsport Performance &
Custom Show on Sunday. We had registered to actually show it
inside, but the ship came too late because of the catastrophic
hurricane Mona close to Cuba!
More about this car later!






March 29

Not a stupid dummy!
I have to tell you a happy story of what a film can do.


- DA SAFETY BELT!!
The Volvo film "Clive Alive" celebrated its 10th Anniversary today.
The film that shows the World's oldest pain researcher Clive
Bengtsson and his work buddies and how they work at Volvo.
According to Volvo it is their most spread and beloved film ever. But
it was made to be shown only in one place - only for the visitors of
The Volvo Cars Safety Centre in Torslanda, Hisingen, Gothenburg,
Sweden - when it was opened ten years ago. And never elsewhere.


We celebrated this anniversary at Vingaland Film with a lunch and
invited as many as possible from the production list. And even if it
was with a short notice we had many good people circulating.
Star actors Stefan "Clive" Gödicke and Sofi "Mary" Helleday could
not come because of the logsistics. Stefan was working out of town
and Sofi had moved to Stockholm.
But Christian "Skåne" Holst (left) could come. The technical wiz
back then. He also did the stunt as the angry "cinema seating
guide" that quarrels with the loud and disturbing Clive during
the Jacques Tati film "Trafic" at the cinema - a funny scene.

Unfortunatetly this scene was taken out of the Clive Alive-film since the french Tati-people withdraw their first OK for us to use it. But I can show you this scene at Vingaland...

The film was made by Dockhouse Film & TV. I was the director and
made storyboards which I used to edit together the complete film
before we shot the first scene! Then I also could get Perra Winberg
and Charles Storm to start compose the music.
I was also the scriptwriter and took good help on ideas with Christer
"Chris Condor" Ljungaeus and Sören "Fixarn" Fjällstedt and of
course the client Christer Johansson.
"Clive Bengtsson" was a funny name that Condor made up and
used in different situations, a long time before it landed on this
crash test dum...sorry...hehe....pain researcher.
One day Sören gave me that old framed picture with Älvsborgsbron
which is a wellknown part to the Gothenburg skyline, Clive's
hometown. Sören had bought it at an auction for 5 SEK.


Years before the making of "Gollum" in "The Lord of the Rings" we
made Clive with the MoCap techique - Motion Capture. Sensors
instead of cameras which saves the movements that will be animated.
It was the clever people of MFX Studios that helped us with that,
like Sverker Nordqvist who later moved to Hollywwod and worked
as a 3D-generalist in films like The Return of the King, King Kong
and Happy Feet and many other projects, commercials etc.
He is now working on Happy Feet2 and Mad Max4.
Sverker told me this:
- I picked up a copy of the English magazine The Economist
on a flight to New Zealand. It was some years ago.
- It happened to be a special issue with Scandinavia as a theme.
- The picture they had choosen to illustrate Swedish industry
was of the one and only Clive Bengtsson! The pride I felt
then above the clouds almost made me start crying!


The Silver Surfer. Stefan Gödicke had a fantastic body language!


"Newly Married" - before Clive and Mary do the barrier test together
at Volvo Cars Safety Centre...
Client Johansson wanted a "fun film about safety" and he not only
contributed to the script himself, he also safeguarded it - and the
whole production - from being checked by the Volvo organisation
and guided of the official Volvo way and language before it was
completely done! He actually put his own job in line of fire for the
idea! Christer Johansson really wanted it to be free, wild and crazy.
And he got it.


Since Clive is a bachelor (in the beginning of the film) he has pin-up
girls on the walls. Not Marilyn, but Marylin, a pin-up of his own world.
When he invites Mary home for a Bullens hot dog dinner he of
course try to hide the nude poster, with a crash test picture...


The manufacturer of Bullens supported us when making the film and
they had a good laugh! Nowadays, Bullens Pilsnerkorv is a bit of
cult and we are glad we contributed to that! The recipe is from 1953!


The old Stefan Mumm secret plan of building large Hisingen-letters in
Hoollywood style on Ramberget (for real, during night, without asking
anyone!) became a "reality" in this film. Volvo is located on the
Hisingen island in north of Gothenburg.


Clive now and then hires a bus to take the staff out to the scary real
life to show how, why and where "the softies" crash their cars.
I think we had a special insurance that day because just one crash
test pain researcher cost a million Swedish kronor and we
had a busload of them...


Clive Alive had it's "World Premiere" in the ABC-studio on Broadway
April 11 2001 in the hands of Volvo Cars of North America. A great
party with Mary (Sofi Helleday), me, Chris Condor, Clive Bengtsson
(Stefan Gödicke) and our happy client Christer Johansson of VCC
...and of course hundreds of other pin-pointed
guests from all kinds of media - except automotive press!
This single event resulted in that the film was talked about and
parts of it were broadcasted in over 100 American TV-stations...


We believe that this film also is the most awarded "company film"
ever made. Among many other awards it achieved four (4) Grand
Prix - that was in Sweden, Europe, USA and at the Autovision
Film Festival of the Frankfurt Auto Show where they have this
"Ottocar" golden statuette for the . .... ... . . . . ........................
Grand Prix winner!..................... .......... ....... ......................

The film "Clive Alive" has been broadcasted in its full length in
TV-channels in over ten countries! It is also dubbed in many different
languages, like in two different Japanese languages. And then You
Tube, who could ever imagine that ten years ago? Not a bad spread
for a film that should only be used in one place...
Originally made in Swedish, this version is dubbed to Clive's own
"Swenglish" Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/Clive_Alive

Summary: Money well spent Volvo!






March 28

Welcome spring!


When the Crocus shows up it's for real! This beautiful color popped
up today, only 8 days later than last year - check NEWS 2009-1.
Isn't it a wonderful feeling with the first wild flowers every spring!?
A fantastic time is coming now!


Hot Roddin' Lager
didn't help!


We were many Europeans glued to the NHRA Audiocast Saturday
night to follow the fight of Jimmy Ålund and team - against the best
and richest teams of the World - to qualify at the NHRA 4 Wide
race in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Audiocast was terrible and
sounded like they tried to convey the broadcast via an iron plow.
But who can turn it off? Maybe you could hear a "Jimmy" or "his
ol' 06 GTO" or a speed or something? In Sweden we took help of
the "Spring Edition" of the new Pistonhead lager in trying to
figure out what they were saying through the plow. (Experts
say there is a Summer Edition coming up!)


We needed strength from the new favorite beer amongst the car
freaks in Sweden - the Pistonhead Beer from the Spendrups Brewery.
Read on the label:
- Introducing the real Hot Rod -
Brewed on Barley Malt, water and Magnum- Cascade- Saazer-
and Amarillo-hops. No bling, only high quality parts and a
lot of torque. Just lika a HOT ROD !!!
We must have a friend on the inside...


Anyway, it was as tough as expected for Jimmy and the gang, but
they were in good company as you can see on the Qualifying list.
Jimmy's 6.663 wasn't either up to his European Record of 6.649
and they said it was because a lot of struggle of all kinds.
The team was chasing the 6.1 - 6.2's in trying to get in.
However, it was fun to see that my old idol Warren Johnson (Werner
Jonsson) was back in top-8 again after a couple of seasons of
DNQ's. Jeg Coughlin broke Mike Edwards string of twelve (!) No 1
qualifying wins! Ford is back, and my Facebook-friend Erica
Enders was quicker than Larry Morgan even though he is running
the Swedish Leander Brothers clutch!
I will not try to explain the very complicated 4-wide Eliminations
ladders and how it is thought to work! I'll just look forward to Jimmy's
next race which will be a normal 2 by 2 race and my guess is actually
that EVERYBODY is happy for that!?
You can try for yourself: www.dragracecentral.com
Really, drag racing is much more "duels" than "all together now"...
Next race: NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, GA May 14-16
Maybe the "Summer Edition" of Pistonhead is released by then?
Those will help better I think.





March 25

Daily US video updates!


The digital technique is giving us more and more.
And that thanks to innovative people who want to work some extra to
see their ideas fullfilled. Like photojournalist Stefan Boman, who now
is travelling with the 6-time back-to-back FIA European Pro Stock
Champion Jimmy Ålund and team in USA. They are touring between
drag strips, making test rounds and all on their way to Charlotte and
the zMax 4-wide drag strip. Every evening Stefan distributes a clip
via the nitroz.se website. Nice! Today clip #3 is out.
Click the image above to get to the gallery.


Stefan Boman now has the Nikon D3s still camera with very good
filming capacity. Stefan uses 14-24 zoom which he likes because
it gives much presence and has exceptional ISO qualities.
I wonder if Tog took this picture on Stefan with his old
camera at Santa Pod?
(Sorry, that was mean! Or was it at Santa Pod???)

4-wide drag racing!


Jimmy Ålund is over there aiming to qualify at the inaugural NHRA
Carolinas Nationals at the (already famous) 4-wide Z-Max Dragway
this weekend of March 25-28. Picture is from the test race in 2009.


This spectacular track in Charlotte N.C. was finished last year and
will now have its NHRA premiere. As NHRA states they will run Top
Fuel and Funny Car in the 4-wide fashion - only in an exhibition race
on Sunday for 1st round losers. All classes will run 2 and 2, and split
between tracks 1-2 and 3-4. This to get an even preparation.
That would mean that some classes you see on the two tracks
close to you and other classes...over there, then you'll sit further
away from the excitement, won't you? Half the race will be moved
away from you compared to a normal race...
For me drag racing is always trying to come as close as possible.
I don't know, I wish I was there now to find out =)


And I wish that I had been at the zMax Dragway when they had four
jetcars! How did that sound? We only hear one at the time in Europe
and that alone helps developing the tinnitus thank you. Eh...what?


Jimmy will leave his GTO over there at Pat Musi's shop and will
come back for at least three more races in USA! He will have his
car back in Sweden by the Drag festival at Mantorp Park in end of
July which means that he opens the possibility for all other racers
to become the FIA European Champion in 2010.
Read all about it on Jimmy Ålund's website in English!
Read the NHRA story here
How 4-WIDE dragracing will work


We all hope that Jimmy Ålund will qualify! Pro Stock is one of the
toughest classes to even qualify in, but Jimmy can do it.
And if he qualifies he will be the first European to manage that since
the Norwegian Skinne Brothers did it at the 1990 Gatornationals
when teamed up with "Bagarn" and Birgitta at Autoshop Racing
Engines in Orlando. In the picture Per-Kristian lost first round to
legendary Warren Johnson. To lose first round in Pro Stock is
still a merit to achieve for any European Pro Stock team.

Good luck Jimmy and team!




March 23

NO MORE SNOW?


At least a feet of snow and ice has disappeared in 18 days! Today
was the first day of 2010 with no snow at all on our street! That is
of course a wonderful feeling even if you now that the infamous April
wheater is yet to come over us, which means summer sun one day
and snow blizzard next day, but summer is coming closer and the
first race of our Tenth AnniverSSary Season at Moholmsstrippen.
The Revenge!
Check it out for details: www.402m.se



March 17-18

Fat bike bastard


Lucky me that had two days of work at IKEA head quarters in Delft,
The Netherlands. Then I could enjoy the early spring with good
temperatures up to 16° Celsius / 61° Fahrenheit. So my client Helene
and I borrowed bikes from IKEA and went downtown to shop some
world famous Dutch tulips. We even had time for an ice cream...
If you think I look like a fat bastard, have no fear, that's only because
I really am a fat bastard - and that's because I haven't smoked since
New Years' Eve! That would be a total of 77 days on March 18th!
When the nicotine crisis is over I'll start to diet again somehow.


Back home I found much of the snow gone. Aha, there it is! Axel's
lost radio-controlled Formula 1. Will it work? How much did this toy
cost anyway? I guess we have to change to wooden logs
as gifts for him instead...



March 15

2nd Carbon fiber SS-hood
by Michael Anderbrant!


There he is! Michael Anderbrant in Kusmark! The Master creator of
lightweight body parts! His products are wowed in drag racing pits
and garages around the world!
Even though he looks like he did 20 years ago he is now very busy
in the manufacturing industry and do only these car parts as a
hobby - if you manage to get hold of him and knock him with
your wallet! Kent managed to do just that after a long hunt!
Congratulations!


Kent's hood is made in the same forms as mine, of course, the forms
are made of the plug which is made of my original hood. The
difference between our hoods is this half NACA-duct that will bring in
cold air to the F2-blower. I chose to bring in air in the front of the car
while using the hood to let air out.


The original hood in the background is about three times as heavy.
Note that famous inside design that is a Anderbrant trademark.
Kent is working the brackets.


Special brackets are needed to get this masterpiece hood to work
in the car just the original one.

More:
>KENT_EDIN_GENTLE_GIANT
>TECH_BODY_HOOD






Good morning Gullan!

Report from Eurodragster's US correspondent Ed O'Connell:
www.eurodragster.com/news/

Fresh pictures from Gatornationals:
www.eurodragster.com/2010nhragatornationals





March 14

03:40 local time Gatornationals

- 0.204

CONGRATULATIONS
TO A SUPER RACE
MICHAEL GULLQVIST!

As reported by www.dragracecentral.com:

"Gullqvist is too quick on the tree and turns on the red light
and then has violent tire shake and shuts it off... Lang was
straight down the groove to win the first ever Wally in the
Get Screened America Pro Mods."
But look at Micke's series of runs! Never before have we seen
such a powerful and consistent class entry from Sweden, and
also note these Reaction-times as a contrast to the redlight:

Qualified: #8 5.933 @ 244.47
(T Tindle ) 0.031 5.852 @ 248.84
(R Burgess ) 0.124 5.827 @ 248.52
(B Auxier ) 0.039 5.857 @ 248.16

This was also when Pro Mod became "pro" in NHRA and
had that "Wally" Parks "Oscar-trophy" to the winner, which
was the Canadian Kenny Lang! Fun fact, Canada vs. Sweden
in the first real NHRA Pro Mod final - and 3 million Swedes
were glued to the radio all night until the final sigh!


Did it feel something like this Michael? Yes, I know! We all know...
More fantastic hi-speed pictures here: high-speed photos
Phew, and there are more NHRA-races with Swedes to look forward
to before the European season starts! In just two weeks...




02:37 local time Gatornationals:
Gullan to the NHRA Final!
He won over Tim Tindle, Roger Burgess and 4th qualifier
Burton Auxier in the semis!
Now Michael "Gullan" Gullqvist will meet Kenny Lang in the
Pro Mod Final sometime soon! Gullan has lane choice!
www.dragracecentral.com/

This will be the second time a Swede reaches a National final
in American drag racing! Adam Flamholc came to the IHRA
final at Rockingham last year. Gullan may take it all the way?
Sitting and listening to the NHRA audiocast makes me
understand how it was when 3 million Swedes was up that
night June 26 1959 and listened to Radio Luxemburg sending
the live report from New York when Swede Ingemar Johansson
knocked American Floyd Patterson in Yankee Stadium
and became Heavyweight Champion of the World!
Click to listen:
www.nhra.com/multimedia/audiocast.aspx

Have no fear! Gullan is trained in a really really BLACK car...



Swedish Gators
Three out of three qualified!


Michael Gullqvist races for Roger Burgess at Gatornationals in
Florida! "Gullan" qualified 5th in Pro Mod in the Camaro with the
quickest performance of an European PM-racer ever:
5.933 @ 244.47 mph / 393.43 kmh!
(Mats Eriksson's first 5 of an European and European record is still
5.988 @ 241.59 mhp / 388.81 kmh)
Then "Gullan" continued Saturday Night in 1st round of Elimination
to win over Tim Tindle with an outstanding
5.852 @ 248.84 MPH / 400.45 KMH
and will meet "Boss Burgess" in the 2nd round, Sunday, who took
away struggling Adam Flamholc with a 5.82 to a 6.29 in first round!
flamholcdragracing.blogg.se
Pictures by Eurodragster's US correspondent Ed O'Connell:
www.eurodragster.com/2010nhragatornationals

Leander brothers qualified 10th in Top Alcohol Funny Car with an
5.781 @ 249.07 MPH / 400.83 KMH (his European record is 5.687)
but Jörgen lost to #5 Todd Veney's 5.666 @ 256.21 MPH
in 1st round Saturday night. All the nasty details here:
www.dragracecentral.com/
and here: leandersbros.se/


Michel Gullqvist's comment at Facebook last night:
"Back at the hotel after a nice day at the races. I was very pleased
with the first round win numbers, running through some pretty hard
shake in first and second gear, still running a 5.852 / 248.84 mph
(400.45 km/h). The crew chiefs looked a bit worried about
me racing "the boss" RB tomorrow, but RB is excited about racing
anyone and I'm cleared to go full charge, - the race is on!
Thanks for your support!"

GO GO GULLAN!
Just like yourself, I wish that I could have been there now!
I have been at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida two times.
It was there I saw - and filmed - the dancing police officer directing
the traffic outside the racetrack. I wonder if he still dances?
Follow "Gullan" tonight when he races his boss in 2nd round at:
www.dragracecentral.com/
Same results a bit later here:
www.nhra.net/2010/events/race03/results/
See live timing
www.nhra.com/livetiming/livetiming
Listen:
www.nhra.com/multimedia/audiocast.aspx





March 4

Happy Birthday Rick!


He made it to the cover of the very famous Oi scurrilous gossip
magazine thanks to the rumors of his new Super Stock engine
and the plan to bring his '"Heaven & Hell As Well" 1984 Camaro
to Sweden and race it in Super Stock - a class which
can't be found in Great Britain.
Many great news on this cover! And we say welcome to Sweden!
Also thanks to his wife Carla Pittau for the magazine.
More here:www.heavenhellracing.com




February 28

Tribute to Nosmo King


On the 59th day a wise couple came to the Nosmo King with gifts
to please him and to congratulate him for his effort. Sören "Fixarn"
Fjellstedt and shy wife Polina presented the fun t-shirt that Fixarn
bought for the Nosmo King recently in California. It's really enjoying
to see how many people that actually are engaging in your ambition
of ending the smoking habit! That is encouraging! Another example
is when one of our Balckout SS-fans Christel Hägglund started
a support group for Nosmo King on Facebook where I have to report
my status every day. Many has joined the group and are cheering in
there! If you are on Facebook, please welcome:
facebook.com/NosmoKingSupportGroup




February 27

Therapy time again


Breaking loose from work to do something else - to save the brain.
I continued the rework of the headers, passenger side tubes.


It was nice to take a drive to meet Jonas again in his Höjdargaraget
(Top Notch Garage). I go to him for each tube to have him to TIG-
weld them. One at the time, so I don't loose the fit of the unit.


Jonas proudly showed his latest project, his old dream of a multi
purpose weld table is now a reality. Tailormade by himself of course.
The table is also a chassies jig and it has numerous of features. All
machines, tools and things are swiveling and interchangeable within
different positions on the table. They can quickly be mounted
upside down or sideways... My guess is that Jonas has given this at
least as many hours of planning as it took to build it.
And it has a good hang factor when visiting.


Back in my own garage it's nice to mount the headers to see the
improvements! Now it's only the separate # 2 tube that will be
prolonged by an inch. Then it's ready to race again!


Improvements. The gap between # 8 spark plug boot and the # 2 tube
has gone from zero to at least 3/4" and the gap beween the starter
motor and # 4 tube has been doubled. Wonderful! And my brain is
rebooted and fresh again, ready to take on daily work with full power.
Larger pictures and all about about it here >EXHAUST_REWORK





February 20 - 21

Winter graffiti


"Welcome back from sunny London" he said to us through the
kitchen window in the morning, the Danish snømand who now
had became a real snowman.


I did shove snow last night so we could walk in from the street and
this is what we had when we opened the door in the morning!


Avalanche warning!


Skoda Felicia 2000. I think.


More shoving to do.


Then Axel saw the opportunity to dig his first ever snow cave! When
I was little, up north in Umeå, we dug snow caves everywhere every
winter. Back then winters were always cold and rich of snow.
I'm glad Axel got the chance to do it at least once.


Snow can look nice on pictures but that's it. I have no use for snow
whatsoever. It's in the way! Kids love it of course. If you see the red
dot close to the middle of the picture, that's Axel digging his
second cave across the street.


This one was bigger...


...and had a safety opening.


One of the reasons I moved from Umeå to Gothenburg was of course
to get shorter and milder winters and get 2 month more summer.
And now this!? Is there a money back guarantee? They now state
that Gothenburg haven't had so much snow in 40 years! I believe
it goes for whole of Sweden?




New: Live NHRA graphics!


Wow! Click the image above to get a full size one. Not only do
NHRA offer this live timing on the internet, from their big races, you
can also afterwards visit their archive and pick a particular Elimination
run in a particular class to "see" that run play, meaning you'll
get a feeling of close the race actually was, both with the graphic
cars in the bottom and the incrementals presented. Like this
example when you see that Englishman and FIA European Top Fuel
Champion Andy Carter did win the start over the NHRA World
Champion Tony Shumacher...and then you see how lead was
slipping... Great new thing! Especially to run together with their
radio. If you can't be there in person of course, or see it on ESPN...
And it was a great run by Andy who was the only
European in Top Fuel at the race in Phoenix!
Follow this link and click through the archive and see for
yourself: nhra.com/livetiming/





February 16-19

Let's get the Hell out!


Minus 6 degrees Centigrade and getting colder!
Axel was running to the airplane. Agneta and I followed quickly after.
It was already cold and snow rich but they promised even more snow
over us, so when Axel got his winter sports holiday we said let's go to
the nearest warming sun - London! Ryanair is close and inexpensive.
And this whole family trip could be funded by the money saved on
cigarettes since I stopped smoking on New Year's Eve!


Landing in Stansted and then bus into Victoria Station. And from here
we took the local train to Kidbrooke in the south and our friends...


...Carla Pittau and Rick McCann of Heaven & Hell Racing! Rick is the
one burying his head in his hand in what looks like frustration over
the sudden loud freeloaders... =)


Both Carla and Rick are keen dragracers with a Camaro each! Since
we visited them in 2007 Rick has his own Camaro seen here on
their laptop - "Heaven & Hell As Well". It will have a new blue
paintjob for 2010 and other surprises we heard about! =) WOW!
More: www.heavenhellracing.com


This hotel is by far the best we have ever stayed at in all of England!
Extremely good service, everything is free and good manners too!
Much like The Blackout Hotel.


No snow! And 6 plus degrees! 12 degrees better than yesterday!
Ok, let's go for stroll in London!
Yes, we brought one of our carry-on bag on wheels all day, packed
with our jackets so we could dress up before tonights musical -
we couldn't come there like hillbillies could we?!


As Swedes we felt right at home when getting the ticket folders =)


Mmmmmm! At our goal, the warming sun in London! WONDERFUL!
Yep, it's the Tower Bridge.


When heated up we thought that we could chill a bit with a visit on
the cruiser HMS Belfast. It was in duty in Operation Overlord outside
the Normandy during the World War II and even many years before!


It was very interesting to explore this ship. Maybe it looks a bit old on
the outside but on the inside we imagined it to be quite modern.
It was like a small village in there.


Steep, narrow stairs all over the ship, always with the risk for bumping
your head into something hard. We managed this labyrinth with
our important carry-on baggage...yes, no hillbillies remember...?


As Swedes we felt right at home when finding Bofors cannons!


The four engines/boilers were a surprise! More about this tecnique
at their own site: HMS Belfast


Ice cream on the February 17th!


Green grass on the February 17th! Outside The Tower.

We visited The Jewel House inside The Tower. This is one of
maybe 20-25 crowns on display. The Crown Jewels of England,
potent symbols of monarchy and world class looting,
have been safeguarded at the Tower of London for centuries. We
were close to all the famous giant diamonds we've only heard about
before, like "Koh-i-noor" big as an egg and surely worth at least a
mint condition 1996 Impala SS and a pair of new slicks!! That diamond
is only one of 23.578 gems collected in the Crown Jewels! It was
not allowed to take photos or film in there so I could only take
a few pictures away from the grumpy armed Beefeaters....


There were more interesting English history to take part in at The
Tower, from Roman's wall, 9th century with William the Conqueror
starting to build the Tower and about all following monarchs up to
today's Queen Elizabeth. But after a couple of hours it was back to
present time and a short meeting with the King of Eurodragster - Tog!


Here's where Andy "Tog" Rogers has his daily work (when not being
the ace editor of Eurodragster.com). It's actually the HM Treasury
that has been around since year 1126 (Tog was aboard a little later).
Tog took us to one of his favourite lunch restaurants and treated us
with terrific fish'n'chips! Thanks Tog!


The goal of the evening - "WE WILL ROCK YOU" - the musical about
Queen based on their music! It has been played here at the Dominion
for eight years and it's on indefiniately! We booked the tickets already
in Sweden via the net and that was less expensive! And the show was
fantastic! I still get chills when thinking about The Final with
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (click to enjoy this special Youtube-version
that already have over 13 million views!)
The jackets in our carry-on baggage? Well, nobody else seemed to
have dressed up that much so we didn't even open it. But we had to
carry our bag to our seatings over the heads of the people so you
could say we looked like hillbillies after all... =)


One of their cats and Axel's best friend, Nitro Ginger, likes to block
off the stairs. We didn't see the chief watch-cat Poncho a lot.


London had some small showers one day - but no snow! When
walking through Chinatown in the Soho it felt like in the Ridley Scott
film "Bladerunner"! And here's another film crew working.


Ferrari shop on Regent Street. We didn't buy it. We have more power
at home in our garage in a black streetable car with four doors...


This is a phone booth where you go to make a phone call...


There were some horses that changed places at the Horse Guard.
This was just after we not far from here were refused to enter the
Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms
due to our hillbillies bags...


Some last minute shopping at Lillywhites, Picadilly Circus. Axel and
I went ahead to Pizza Hut to take lunch seats. And a good Corona.
Axel had Coca-cola, that's his beer in the world of milk.


Cab driver told us that the flag was waving up on Buckingham Palace.
Which means Queen at work!


It was a hectic vacation, completely filled with action rather than
resting. All of us snoozed on the 75 minute bus out to Stansted and
the flight home.

It was now much worse winter than when we left. It was a Class 2
storm and our plane had to reroute from Säve to Landvetter airport
so also Grand daddy had to do that to get us. However, we were
glad we didn't came from Spain in the flight before, it was rerouted
from Säve to Skavsta near Nyköping on the east coast!!!


Home again. Were we somewhere else? Did it even happen?
Thanks to our sponsors The Grannies, Heaven & Hell Hotel
management, Tog and Nosmo King!

More of our vacations here: >VACATIONS
Maybe I'll complete this London trip with more material and
add it to these Vacation pages.




February 14

Looking good!


I knew it. At least I hoped for it. By adding only a 3/8" ring to the # 8
tube will transfer to a larger movement for the # 2 tube giving a
clearance of at least 5/8" to the # 8 spark plug, and open up at bit
between the tube and the starter motor. Things which makes me
happy. While at it I might as well move also the # 4 tube away
from the starter motor. So # 6 tube is the only one that not will be
altered on this side. More about this here: >EXHAUST_REWORK




Fun fiasco journalism!


My friend Chris Condor sent me this. Clips from today's web editions
of the Swedish tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen. First I thought
he had made them himself to create laughters, but it was for real!
Journalists have for months been building high expectations of
medals for our troop at the Olympic Games. They always do, and
not only for the Olympic Games either, it's all the time!
Well, the Swedish ladies didn't win the Biathlon yesterday, so these
headlines above and the in-depth articles was the result of
their own expectations... The coverage is like from a war!
So now the journalists call it "EMBARRISING FIASCO" And this
is after just one (1) day of the games and I'm already tired.
The only thing I miss is that they also should blaim Maud Olofsson
and the rest of the Swedish Government for the fiasco, but I'll guess
they will do that closer to the election we have this autumn.
Chris Condor and I have always been annoyed of this kind of
"journalism" that by no means is typical for Sweden, but I would
guess that we nowadays are more entertained than annoyed...
So click the picture to get a big one - read and laugh at it!
If you want to laugh everyday:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/
http://www.expressen.se/



GO! GO! Thomas Nataas
and Andersen bros!


Norwegian Thomas Nataas drove an explosive 3.844 @ 310.34 MPH
last night at Pomona Raceway, California in the Danish Andersen
brothers' new car! That gave him # 7 in the Top Fuel 16-ladder at the
50th Anniversary NHRA Winter Nationals! Englishman Andy Carter
did not qualify in his Don Garlits entry, finished just outside at # 17.
Tonight we'll hold our thumbs for this strong Scandinavian team!
And if Thomas doesn't win the whole race or not even win over
Brandon Bernstein in round 1...I promise I won't write "Fiasco" =)
Updated results here:
www.nhra.net/2010/events/race01/results/index.html
Also try their new live timing here!
www.nhra.com/livetiming/livetiming.aspx
Even a little quicker and better I think:
www.dragracecentral.com
Also special reports can be found at:
www.eurodragster.com





February 13

Pamela Anderson joined


Pamela has joined BLACKOUT Full SIze Racing group on Facebook.
I don't really know if she knows what it is, but who knows anyway?
Pamela added me as a friend months ago, and now she took
the full step! =)


It's one of million groups at Facebook and not that active but
sometimes we discuss things. Probably it will be more active during
spring and I'll try to integrate it with this site, as a new PitLane?
Let's see if we can start a discussion with Pamela in waiting for
Thomas Öhman to join Facebook? He says that his daughter
Victoria Öhman has forbidden him to do that! Both his children
is on Facebook, Sebastian too.
If you are registred at Facebook, this link should take you directly
to the BLACKOUT at FACEBOOK


Pamela has sold her "Big Red" 1960 Cadillac Convertible at the
Barret-Jackson's Los Angeles Collector Car Auction. And she stated
that she will not do anymore nude photography, now that she at last
has found a nice t-shirt. Click the picture to see a larger one.





February 6

Axel looks ahead


Axel waiting for his closest friends that he had invited to his 12th
birthday party. Newly painted hair and all, green on one side and
purple on the other side. Of course.


He already enjoyed the gifts he got for his PC from grand daddy Thore
and us; 18 wheels of steel - Haulin' covering USA and Euro Truck
Simulator respectively. Yes, I kind of like them too =) They're high
concentration games rather than action games and it's always nice
with a drive on the countryside in foreign countries...


Suddenly the action started anyway when his friends arrived!
All you can eat. Hot dogs, Cheese Doodles, potato chips, candy,
Coke, Sprite, Fanta and more in endless amounts! Axel's parents
were hiding downtairs, but I managed to sneak in here a couple of
times to grab some flavour test samples...


Cease-fire at the battlefield. Watching movies on LOUD surround!
It was a great hullabaloo at this floor for hours...loud karaoke,
balloon killings, playing with the new gifts and whatnot...


The 12 year birthday party ended with some funny boxing =)
Congratulations our dear Axel - teenager next time!
Time flies!



February 5

Before and after


Comparison pictures shows that we now have more space around the
tubes # 1, 5 and 7. Much better!


More air should do it. If not, well, then I have to place the spark plug
cables underneath instead. Hope not.
All about the headers rework on new page via: >EXHAUST_MENU





February 1

Passenger side plan


# 8 spark plug boot is too close to # 2 tube, even if it hasn't been to
any problem yet with the ceramic boots, but it will...? My guess is
that air is cooling better on this side?
Anyway, I have an inch of space between the frame and the # 8 tube
so I'll cut the tube and move it away from engine and closer to the
frame. That will give me a chance to re-organize and move also the
# 2 tube away from the engine and that spark plug boot. # 2 tube
is now "stopped" by # 8.



Unfair...


While we in Sweden still shovel snow in the mornings...


...the drag racing season has already started at Santa Pod in England!
Just got this in the snow-covered mailbox. Santa Pod have no snow left!


The schedule is full for 2010. Only month that doesn't have a drag
racing activity at this classic European drag strip is December! That
means that the unlucky English racers only have one month of rest
and time to update their cars and motorcycles!
In Sweden we have about 6-7 months to do this which of course
is a very unfair advantage...
Check out their tough schedule: www.santapod.com




January 27

SS spotting


This hot 1996 Impala SS was spotted in Älvsjö during one of the
recent blizzards in Sweden by my brother Sune who first saw it on a
distance and almost didn't believe his eyes - since the road was
tricky even for 4X4's this afternoon. So Sune had to drive around
the block to really confirm it! He quickly snapped this picture with
his LG Arena and sent it to me. (Yes, it's very very important for
all of us to know the whereabouts of all the SS at all times...=)
Sune also got out to chat with the guy so you could say
that SS is connecting people.





January 16

Here you are


2009 was another straight record year for this site, thanks to you!
And even though half of December wasn't registred! The statistics
ended on December 16 and is still not working! I've contacted the
webmaster who says he will try to fix it next week. If this problem
continues, well, this may be the last statistics you'll see.

And I am still sorry that all statistics info from the years
2001-2003 and 2004-2005
are lost by webmasters and never found again... Even during these
last four years 2006-2009 information is lost almost every month!
However I'm still at it - statistics or not - as long as I'll keep the
Blackout Impala SS or builds a black IHP hot rod...
and you're back now and then.

Also the membership thing at the Pit Lane is out of control since
a long time. It's drowned by spam-robots! Yes, I know it's a shame.
I would also like to have a modern blog / Face Book-type Pit Lane
which makes it easy to communicate for all of us.
Some advertising would be healthy, and with these statistics it
shouldn't be too difficult to get that on the road. But it's difficult
to move forward if I can't get the webmaster aboard on this.
I promise to try my best to finally solve all of this it in 2010.
Cheers to you 149.091 Unique visitors!




January 14

The adventure continues!


Part 2 is done. Click the banner to see what we did together with our American guest Karl Ellwein
above the Arctic Circle - between the drag races in Piteå and Skellefteå.



I can reveal that we passed through Jokkmokk and then many
memories came to life...


...like the first discovery of the gravitation problem at the Arctic Circle!
It happened in 1981 but was the problem still here today?



First five


I found a funny notice from Bilsport magazine # 25-26 1982 on the
"Acc-plock" dragracing news page, by Editor Stellan Åberg.
"We got a picture to forward to the readers. A Christmas wish
and wishes for a faster '83! From left Bagarn '78, Fredde '79,
Inge '80, Bostic '81 and Tore '82. All of them secret winners once
in Umeå's annual streetrace shootout of the t-shirt"
I will place this notice among the other stuff here:
>GALLERIES >THE_WHIPLASH_CAMARO



No Smoke!


I've said it before - that "I have stopped smoking" - but I won't
say it again!
This time I'm only "holding up".
This time I'm not giving myself any slack to "party smoke".
This time it's cold turkey.
And so far so good. I haven't smoked since New Years Eve which
means 14 days! And it has never before felt so "easy".
So I'll keep going!
Funny thing is that Blackout SS fan Christel Hägglund has just
started a new group on Facebook...

"Support Bostic - The Nosmo King Group"

...and supporters from all over are beginning to become members.
Thanks Christel and all others! This makes it really impossible
to start smoking again! =)
Wish me luck!




January 6

White winter


Axel loves to play in the snow, like all other kids. I hate snow and
snow is one of the reasons I finally moved from Umeå up north down
here to Gothenburg. But it didn't help a lot this winter when all of
Sweden is white and cold, as most of Europe.


Even our old Skoda became an adventure for Axel.


The "snömand" we bought in Denmark a couple of years ago really
likes himself now when dressed in a layer of snow. He looks into our
kitchen windows to see that all is OK. Hope all is OK for you too!





January 3

Gelukkig nieuwjaar!


SS owner and enthusiast Arjen Weima sent us Happy New Year
wishings and cold proof that it can snow even in The Netherlands!
Arjen said he was thankful for all the tips on the Blackout SS
website and he has now ordered a SSLED red Bowtie grille emblem
from Al Funk. "I think it's a killer mod"


This is what we all want now, green grass! Jesse wants to go to
more car shows with daddy!


This are the engine mods to date. "The Impala is an ongoing work
in progress, I want to install some AirRides as well later on..."
Thanks Arjen, hope both your and our snow melts away soon!





The Moholm Mojo!
If you dare, click bar below to go there!


Men on the verge of
a Nervous BREakdown

To be - or not to be? That's the question I found at
Moholmsstrippen...but found no answer.





December 31 - January 1

Happy New Year 2010!
How we made it blue


Axel loves Tomtebloss and wanted of course to add this to our
new invention "snapsbytta" or "shot pot"


It began a couple of days earlier thanks to the cold temperature.
Minus 12° Celsius / 10° Farenheit. So we started to fill plastic
buckets with water and let them stay outside overnight. Next day
we turned them upside down and had perfect ice holders for
outside torch lights, because they wasn't completely frozen.


Then we had a few colored with food colorant. Blue.


What more could we do in playing with freezing water? Ha!
A snapsbytta! I took Agneta's cast iron pot and but on the bottom a
winded plastic tube of electrical blue decoration light. In with all the
small snaps bottles of different flavours - and water.


Of course the decoration light was safety grounded. And we thought
the result was stunningly beautiful and must recommend you all
to make one yourselves!


Outside on the glassed veranda I had put up another blue decoration
light so we could get the "Icehotel blue feeling" (It was exactly the
same product). And on the outside the blue ice holders on the wall.


We took the snapsbyttan inside an hour before the guests arrived
to have it start melting, so we actually would be able to cheer with
the snaps! Here we just awaits Agneta to serve the fantastic
Jamie Oliver-style turkey! Wow! It was something to remember!
Thanks again Agneta!


Midnight! 2009 turned into 2010 and all hell broke loose! The sky
turned into a sparkling 360° view and I guess it sounded like a war...
All people over 18 years old are free to launch as much firework
rockets as they like, and they do.



Agneta and Perra Winberg enjoying the fireworks that Perra brought.
Thanks! It was also fun to see the new trend for us, the launching
of Kom Loy (Perra says "korvmoj") which is very common in
Thailand. I have no own pictures of them but they cross over
the sky like silent UFO's in beween the exploding rockets.


We've been to Agneta's cottage for three New Year eve's so it was
fun to be in the middle of it again.

And guess who was happiest of them all? =) We want to wish
all of you a Happy New 2010!

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