Have you clicked your
REFRESH button? Ever?
The fun continues here in July and onward.
June 30 - 2012
Kent's new carriage
New bus. This before he even put the other new big bus in use
(scroll to April 30).
This is a Damon Daybreak 2006, 32 foot (10,2 M).
Chevy engine is a
6.5 L turbo diesel chipped to approx 250 hp.
Transmission is the wellknown 4L80E! This is a typical heavy
application
for that GM transmission.
This is a luxury coach that has two "slideouts" so it becomes
much
larger inside
with a press on a button when the walls move out!
Kent Edin really knows how to
take care of the team and himself!
It is
like an American hotel
room inside, including breakfast.
His SS will still be riding on a trailer behind, in the rain.
June 28
Editorial
As the Bilsport Magzine has its 50th years' anniversary in 2012 they
invited all their journalists - from way back up until now - to write guest
editorials with their perspective on the magazine. So I was invited
and shared my reflection on why the magazine grow so popular,
and it was printed in the "double-issue" 14-15.
Click to read, Swedish only.
June 26-28
Floor beams first
Well, first we began with splitting the packages and get the big
floor beams to prime them with tar paint which smells wonderful,
"like on a newly tar painted pier..." For one day that is, then you
just
hate it!
But it is a wonderful way of priming wood for outside
use, and that tip came from Agneta's dad Thore!
Thore is a man with lot of building experience and he was the right
man to have aboard this project. "Been there, done that". Here we
select foundation columns to put the beams on, all according to
the will of Thore and to the manual from the manufacturer
of the shed:
www.trastugor.com/saga15-1
Two days later the ground of the shed was done! In level of course.
Cross measured too, and secured provisionally with these corner
planks. I guess this measuring work was the single issue that was
most time consuming in this whole project, but it has to be perfect!
More later on >The birth of ELVAN - the Garden Shed
June 25
Here it comes!
"What the hell is he up to now? Building that tent in his garden...?"
It was the first time it came to good use besides in the dragracing
pit. Here it will work as a paintbox protecting from rain and sun.
Thanks to Karin Petersson who works at Abi Trä I got good help to
get the heavy, long kit transported home. I could see that she
works with
this daily. Thanks Karin!
At home I got help from Oscar Claesson who had come from his
work with a
Merlo
telescope
truck and swiftly moved all the big
packages from the
truck to our front yard!
The Merlo turnes on a dime! Here 90 degrees on our narrow street!!
The smartest truck I've seen.
It didn't take many minutes to do this.
It saved us HOURS of carrying the stuff plank by plank, in this
pouring rain! Thanks Oscar and friend, our own Anton Bagger Roth.
Everything is at home. Now protective tent wall sides go up.
Tomorrow the building
work starts...
More later on >The birth of ELVAN - the Garden Shed
June 23
Finalizing the ground
Our whole family worked very hard to prepare the ground for the new
shed to be built. Agneta is coming with another round, with little of
the
total 2 tonnes
of
macadam she ordered. Many rounds were
executed by all three of us. That special blanket underneath
is for
stopping
any plants from growing under the shed.
After measuring that we had level in all four corners Mr Universe
took the heavy concrete roiller for a couple of spins. All of this sounds
very easy, but it wasn't! It took hours of sweating and thinking...
More later on >The birth of ELVAN - the Garden Shed
Why a shed?
We did NOT get the approval of the City of Gothenburg
to make our
garage larger when we renovated it in 2009 which saddened us.
We have always been short of space and have even rented space in
a barn an hour from home! When bringing home all this shit, it
looked
like this (above) but now we knew we're building the Friggebod.
By law you are free to build a garden shed up to 15 square
meters -
161 square feet
- without asking
any City office,
only your neighbours! And that we have.
Primarily the shed will store all the things that up until now have been
left outdoors during the winters and buried in snow; lawnmover,
wheelbarrow,
garden
furniture with the hammock, all the summer tires.
During the
summer all the winter tires will of course be stored in the shed.
And we will have all our large and heavy tools there, sledgehammer,
rakes etc. Yes, we will become normal as the rest of the population
and we are looking forward to that!
June 22
Midsummer 2012
It rained - the answer to one of the biggest question in Sweden
every year, will it rain on Midsummer? You can have fun indoors...
...and I will give you some examples.
Midsummer is not a typical event for giving each other presents,
but Axel was over his top when grand daddy Thore brought him a
12 V
powered outboard motor! No more heavy rowing in that little
aluminium boat up in the countryside...
My planning for the Midsummer Feast was easy. Getting a bottle
of the very goodygood OP Andersson aquavit and putting it in an
empty milk pack, filling it with water and placing
it in the freezer
overnight to have a cool chilled snaps on the table!
No, alcohol won't
freeze in a freezer.
(There is a school saying that flavoured spirits
should be
drunk in
normal temperature, but I belong to all
schools)
See how the cold mist is sliding off the ice...
Agneta had also planned ahead. She made snaps glasses in ice
decorated with mint leaves.
I am sure we also had something to eat in between the drinks here!?
Traditional Midsummer smorgasboard with heering, boiled fresh
potatoes n'stuff...
Skitgubbe - Man'o'shit. Cards go well with whiskey as long there
are no money involved. I can tell you.
This is how you do it
Daddy, first you hollow out the chassis and move the rearend holders
upwards
and melt it stuck.
That's how you get a pair of bigger wheels inside.
...then you are low and fine and have lot of more traction too!
June 21
ZZ Top
I'm friends with Dusty Hill on Facebook. Base player in ZZ Top.
And he is very active in reporting from their tour with pictures
and also nice behind-the-scenes pictures from before.
Anyway he has begun talking about the "oversees" part of the
tour. And YES, we're coming to the only show in Sweden,
in Ystad
Öja Slottsruin July 23!
As a matter of fact, this gig was the start for our family's vaction this
summer! Smart Agneta said: "If we're going down to south of Sweden
for
this
we
might as well hire a mobile home for two weeks and tour
Skåne, Småland and Öland. And bring Sonia and Thore too."
That's it, Axel's grannies are coming along for ZZ Top!
The story
actually began years ago when they was supposed
to have a show
in Gothenburg on July 4 and I promised to take
Axel there - there are no others he love more than ZZ Top!
Anyway, it was cancelled due to Dusty Hill's head surgery and
Axel was to young anyway, you need to be 13 years.
So now it will happen, you never know for how long they
will continue to tour?
Tickets promise + Special guest! We are hoping for the blues king
Peps Persson
from Skåne who really looks like them!
And we would love to
hear "Oboj!" with ZZ Top!
Report here later.
June 16-20
Be prepared!
Axel was on a Scout camp for the first time in his life, four days
in the woods without mobile phone. This camp was called Black
Pearl and had a pirate theme. Broken glasses, dirty nails and
several
band-aids show that he must have had fun.
That's why he wasn't with me on the race at Tierp Arena, and
he didn't regret it at all.
I found these in the ditch on the way get Axel from the camp.
Lupines. Then you know it's summer!
June 14-17
Going to Tierp
Much to do at work forced me to bring my editing equipment with me
on the trip on the fairlyhighspeed train X2000. That was a better deal
than
staying at home
one more day to fix it. I could render the film
when arriving in Tierp and then
send it
to the client with
WeTransfer
(which can send up to
2 gig!)
It's amazing what you can do today! Even though I'm a pro since
more than 25 years,
I'm getting impressed every year!
Every month!
You now you are at Tierp Arena when the manhole cover in cast iron
have the logo.
The factory making them is located in Tierp
since long time ago.
Kenneth Feldthusen and Team Northrace took care of me this race
since I had no entry and was homeless. And it was interesting to
follow this top team in Competition Eliminator.
Well Dressed Man - Jan "Snowball" Palmqvist in Pro Stock #8.
Here he holds the latest CD from "Pistvakt" (Piste guard) - music
for snowballs. Qualfied 4th on 6.79 but lost 1st round on 7.15.
Our friends from London - Carla Pittau fixes the SuperStock-engine
in her husband Rick
McCann's Camaro. Pushrods were loose
and
got even more loose.
They got local help to get to Persåkers
Speedshop to find new ones. Read the very fun story here!
Please note: You must scroll down to 27th June!
The headline is "The Race Trip - from Hell!"
Pro Stock #1 Jimmy Ålund with his brand new Camaro which will
match the Hemi of Thomas Lindström. Jimmy qualified 1st on 6.70
and Thomas 2nd on
6.72. The Final beween them was a drama:
Thomas won 6.704 with a better start over Jimmy's 6.701!
Trap speeds were identical: 334.4 kmh /
207.8 mph!
"Twins" Mikael Lindahl not only racing in the Pro Mod Camaro, also
in this Corvette with the twin turbo Hemi in Competition Eliminator!
Not bad for the first race, qualified 9th with
6.517 on a 7.16 index!
Inside the window directly! Speeds: 1/8: 278.93 kmh / 173.3 mph
and 1/8:
349.74 / 217.3.
Do you see smiling Göran Larsson in the back holding the spoiler,
he is the owner and one of the master
brains behind the
Lindahl Twin's
turbo
campaign!
The twin turbo Brad Hemi delivers.
Tierp Arena - 2nd year. People are continuing making record times
and speeds, and it is still the greatest of views for the heart of a
Swedish dragracer!
It is always nice to chat with English gentlemen like
Simon Groves
and Darryl Bradford. Both are very professional in their fields.
Simon
is making the Pit notes from the races for Eurodragster.com and
Darryl is of course the male half of the presenting team
in the
TV shows made from the FIA races.
I also met the Eurodragster.com Editor Tog but he was so quick so
I
had no time to grab my camera or iPhone.
I guess I'm the only one at the wall also filming with an iPhone?
But it was good HD and I sent it up on Facebook directly where it
was appreciated instantly and widely shared. That can also be
wort something for the sport. See for yourself, click it!
Well that's the film but let's stop for a while and take a good look
on the quality of this still frame above, taken directly from the
iPhone HD film! Click it and inspect it.
Sweden met England in the European Football Championship and
Sweden had to win to advance. The beer-drinking-outlet "Golden
Barn" had big screens for dragracers who also are interested in
football (a small
group of secret outsiders). A screen inside the barn
and also here in the extra tent annex.
Did we win? Yes, no, yes and finally no. We led over Engalnd and
lost it! (that small secret group became even smaller).
And a small plastic bottle of beer was still a mind boggling 50 SEK!
A steal! Unworthy!
Blues band Wolfman Jack, Umeå. Fun to meet! They will play here in
the "Golden Barn" during the Scandinavian Internationals in August!
Team Northrace in the Nilfisk ALTO colors is a fun and rocking
group of people. Whatever happens, there are always place
for
jokes and laughter. Team Northrace site.
It's nice to see Patrick Wikström work his chutes, which means
that he must be at a drag race. Last few years he has just
concentrated in R&D of his Boss Blower concept which has been
eating time and money,
and then resulted in fewer races.
Now he was here to get his work results printed on timeslips.
Tommy AGA was confident in "Team OFAB Motorsport" as always!
And this was
his first time
at Tierp Arena! He saw Patrick flew
away in the
unmanageable "Thriller" Camaro!
Patrick and his son Simon were very happy of the data recorded
in the wild Camaro. -I have never before got so much PSI and power,
said a smiling Patrick.
He had to take away more and more power
and then it was too rainy to qualify more so they stayed on the
outside.
One of the days Team Northrace's Marcus Runesson served
potato
gratin.
They don't fool around with the food in this team.
- Hi guys!
Karin Petersson found some sunshine between rounds, at least on
the Friday. In Team
Northrace she do a bit of everything on the
racecar and also drives
the bus with trailer since she has every star
in her driving licence.
Magnus and Mikael Lindahl took a look at my AFR heads and said
that
it won't be any problem to fix my burnt hole and also do
an overhaul, seats and everything. Nice.
70's Funny Cars on display! In Jan Johansson's hands these are
renovated and refurbished into conditions like new! The
Pisano &
Matsubara 1974 Monza
was once bought by late Lee-Anders
Hasselström
and repainted - and is now repainted to the
original again!!!
Underneath that 1975 Manta body is the "Jungle Jim"
Lieberman's
car that Björn Andersson/Tage Hammerman bought
and became
in 1976
the first Swedes into the 6's at 6.92 @ 335 kmh / 208.2
mph
at
Santa Pod Raceway in the UK.
I saw them close
up in the 70's and it's just as amazing to have
a look at them now! Thanks Jan Johansson.
Leif Helander also raced funny cars back in the 70's, and he still
races today!
He
was on site with his SAAB Nitro Funny Car
but never
got a
chance
to take it for a spin
because of the dreadful weather.
The race was called off because of the rain so we packed Kenneth's
Team
Northrace bus and
began to
drive home via Stockholm.
We
didn't get far
to get sunshine! In the afternoon the racing commenced
again but only for the FIA and UEM classes, and they could finish it
during the evening.
On our way home I took the opportunity to edit together a
short
documentary about this nice team - for the team.
It's showing the way they
work a qualification run, including warm-up.
I filmed in full 1080 HD with my new pocket camera Canon
Power
Shot S100 (scroll down to April 5 and read more about it) and I think
it turned out just terrific for a small camera like that! Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRnr4wNFssc
June 6
A friggin' shed
For the Swedish National Day something very Swedish for lunch
in the garden - meatballs, mashed potatoes, lingonberry, sliced
cucumber. And a couple of beers (one is Agneta's).
Note the building instructions for a Friggebod called Saga 15-1,
a
"friggin'" shed. It's high
time to build one now when the
backyard
is prepared, and I have printed out the instructions
to scrutinize them before we eventually order it.
And yes, we did order it.
June 4-5
Fun house in Delft
A Vingaland group - Fobbe, Hans and me in Delft, The Netherlands,
for
a work meeting
with Inter
IKEA Systems B.V. and we stayed
in
"their hotel"
WestCord which is quite dizzy.
June 2
A day in Nossebro
For the first time we had time to go and visit the Power Americafest
in Nossebro. It has been organized every first saturday in June
since the beginning of
the 90's but our own Impala SS has been
taking all attention and time the last ten year anyway - until now!
Already when walking in the small village you see nice cars
everywhere. A bright red Thunderbird is hard to resist!
The big field was filled with nice cars.
Axel didn't miss the new Camaro when it was rolling in to be
presented for the audience.
Kjelle Gustafsson to the left was an entertaining speaker in the
presentation parade. And he didn't use his iconic rubber boots!
Kjelle once wrote articles in the classic
Start &
Speed which
was
the first Swedish magazine writing about drag
racing and custom
cars etc.
It do not exist since the beginning of the
80's when
Bilsport
rocketed
the market.
Then Kjelle already had
started the Power
magazine and all the Power meets, this one in
Nossebro of course but the most wellknown is the largest in
the World -
Power Big Meet in Västerås with 17.000 cars...
Exquisite cars group.
Cars that help each other with attitudes...
Yes.
Padded engine bay we like.
The market took more than half the day to cover!
We decided to walk every row, to not miss anything.
Axel bought Woody Woodpecker decals for his hot rod mailbox.
He fit right in here with his Cran Canaria hat.
Day ended with a popular burnoutshow! Yes, it's Kjelle in there...
Anything goes! Everybody get cheered as long as it's smoking!
I don't think this 1962 Impala
with blown bigblock won but it
was
the most brutal anyway. It was a fun day out for dad and son in
Nossebro 1.5 hours away from Gothenburg.
May 31
Gothenburg - Älmhult
Jan "Fobbe" Forsberg is one of my work buddies at Vingaland and
is also
occupied more than full time with film productions, mostly
for IKEA. Directing his own productions, and also often filming for me.
Here he stumbles out
of
my Gothenburg - Älmhult shuttle van
in
product headquarters in Älmhult.
Again.
We know
the best
and fastest
routes here from Gothenburg.
Vingaland
May 29
Hole in the Wall(et)
High cylinder pressure, voltage drop/fuel pump malfunction,
fuel
leaning, detonation or ignition
malfunction...? All of the
reasons
above or just one? The result was that we
reached
an aluminium
melting point in the #1 combustion
chamber - A Hole in the Wall(et).
And a year off racing. (Since I'm fully occupied anyway as you
have
seen
on this NEWS-page.)
However, this straight hole out to the water channel explains a lot
of the mysterious behavior of Blackout
during the very last
run at Tierp Arena at the Night of Fire!
It was a long time ago since I needed to take apart the Jeezus
engine, it was when I still was in the TBDGIT garage, 4-5 years ago!
Friends, time flies! I don't have
a lot of engine disassembly tools
and things but the rocker arms
always like to rest on nails in a plank.
At IKEA I found this for 9 SEK. For making ice cubes or
sorting pushrods.
Splash
Goodnight
May 27
Backyard project
It seems to never end!
It began in April 1-3 (scroll down) with taking down the cherry tree.
Then in April 26 (scroll down)
we began to drill in the mountain and
crack it up to make space for the Friggebod shed. And we had
to have another
drill session to get rid of more mountain!
Axel begged to get to drill some of the holes.
A wonder to see how this "snail dynamite" can crack rock overnight.
(More about this at April 26)
It is truly a heavy work to move
these rocks! You think things like
"Why are the Gods hating me?"
I'm glad Axel is so strong and willing to help out. You can't do it
by yourself.
He even invented a way for us to move away the heavy rocks
from the crack-site (??) with placing two iron-bar levers parallel
like
a
track and then we together pushed the rocks on this! It worked
just fine!
We had some stones like 200 kg / 400 lbs,
not the pictured one.
May 19-20
High Definition Web TV
Robert Karström's new TV bus!
Robert is still investing both time and his own money into his
high
quality
offer of live streaming
from drag racing events.
He sure got everybody's attention last year when showing us that
it was possible to
stream HD live!
Nobody did it before him and now, with some
followers, he is still
the only one managing it! Not only to cover it
with HD cameras -
but
also convey it to your computer in HD!
Some of the other producers is promising HD but honestly my
spare tire is more HD. How they even dare to market it as HD
is
a mystery? And the hiring organizers just go along with it...
Robert has also invested in a mobile satellite link so he can
broadcast from any drag strip anywhere! Because some of the
airfields out there are
not close to an internet connection.
(Check back at August 3, 2011 on this NEWS page to get the
start of this Smart TV venture).
Robert hasn't got any big missions yet so he is making the
show on a no-people-budget - meaning no photographers!
The solution is cameras mounted in fixed positions. He have a
minimum
of 6 fixed cameras and the 7th is mobile for interviews
filmed by himself. All state-of-the-art HD cameras of course.
And when budget allows photographers it will of
course lift the quality even more.
These are the cameras he used at Malmö Raceway in May:
A real HD picture can fill all of your computer screen or even
TV-screen with SHARP HIGH QUALITY video, like above.
Besides that,
this christmas tree camera is an example of the "normal" iron age
angle
from low on asphalt up on distant tree and cars. You don't
really
see much because the camera full potential isn't used.
Thanks to today's smartphones I could take a picture of my quick
sketch
and send it to Robert who went out and wrenched the
camera to
the alternative angle below:
Cam1. Now the tree was moved into the same importance level as
the
drivers
value it! Right in your mind!
Here you won't miss any staging drama or how the crew work
around the car prior the prestaging. You also clearly see which
cars are
on the startline. And of course you can really feel who
is first
away! Click it to see what REAL HD means...
Cam 2. The Remote is a camera sitting on a remote head that
swivels
360
degrees, controlled from crew in the bus. Here is of
course
backwards
into the pairing lanes and pits in Malmö.
Same camera turned into the action in the right lane.
Same camera turned into the left lane where Håkan Nilsson
happened to be. Of course there is first class stereo sound
following on all these cameras! Right into your computer!
Cam 3. A fixed halftrack camera, which means 100 metres on a
1/8 mile strip
like Malmö. On a 1/4 mile track you'll of course find
the halftrack
camera at 1/8 (where some classes always have
their finishline!)
With larger budget this is the first camera to get a photographer.
Cam 4. The forward camera is sitting in front of the christmas tree
pointing towards the finishline. Especially nice when cars are
backing
up from their burnouts.
Cam 5. The finishline is as important as the startline, even if you
normally
don't
see that in European drag racing productions - except
for Smart TV's.
Robert is begging the organizers to have those finishlines rolled with
some white or
yellow paint to get it to look more professional but he
hasn't succeeded yet.
A three feet wide line, come on organizers -
invest in it!
Yep, above is the unfortnuate crash of Stefan Holmberg in his new
70 1/2 Camaro Top Doorslammer "Thunder race". Robert could of
course replay the crash and also in slowmotion since he records
everything. Stefan was OK after the violent crash and his Camaro
was
also enough OK so the team could
present it like new at
Tierp less than a month later!
A cam showing the return road can come in handy to keep up the
interest for the web-wievers
if cleaning up on
the track or something
else is slowing
things.
Robert also show old runs and interviews
to fill dead time if it rains. They can also produce new live
interviews
from the pits if it rains.
Ulf "Totte" Lindqvist is racing himself but now gave this project a
chance and he was a very polite and initiated speaker on this web
cast and was also doing the interviews, like here with 2011 Top
Doorslammer Champ Benny Strand. As "Totte" is an
Eurodragsterholic (like myself) he did the whole two day show in
English and that was of course very popular
outside Sweden!
And it was really good too, more understandable than his normal
Skaraborg dialect... ;-)
One of many positive feedbacks in Facebook. It's nice when people
react on the things you hope for.
Here is the family doing both the investments and the job, Dennis,
Robert
and Anna. They believe in this idea.
At races they have very good help from hairy "Totte" and not so hairy
Mike Ekerland who is an old friend to Robert and hangs around
with a helping hand everywhere. This picture is from a Kjula race.
Visit Smart TV to find out which is the next race you can follow
via Europes only live multicamera high resolution streaming.
Oh happy days!
Smart TV on Facebook
Explanation of what HD is!
May 16
Red Carpet Premiere
A real movie premiere at my work Vingaland! Here come the two
stars in the film production "IKEA Film School" which we
of course
made for IKEA. Actors Tina Glenvik and Bo Mellin! The red carpets
was bought at...IKEA,
three
of them that was joined to one long one.
The invitation.
Music composer from Hell - Perra Winberg.
Tina, Animator Tobias Lind and Bo were just a few of the big group
that
created the production together with us at Vingaland and that we
wanted to throw a premiere party for!
It was really fun to show the finished film for our guests! We had to
show it twice so they could also hear the dialouge.
First view was
just ROTFLMAO's.
If you want to see the short trailer, please click the picture above
and
welcome to our website. When there, find my face and click it
and you'll be taken to the films I've done recently. And then you can
also click on everyone else's faces...
This brand is taking all my time for the moment.
All the Impala time too.
Late. We left our HQ at Sten Sturegatan 4, downtown Gothenburg.
And suddenly saw ourselves at Pustervik rock club, where the bar
is
run by lovely
Lotten Erlander who once worked with us at
Dockhouse Film
& TV! My colleague "Fobbe"
asks if he can buy
another beer when the first is finished? Lotten informed that
it was very OK to do so!
May 11
Axel's marathon
Every spring there is a very popular half marathon in Gothenburg.
Göteborgsvarvet - Gothenburg lap - 21 km / 13.05 Mile - with some
11.000 runners.
There is also
many other runs
during this weekend
for other groups, like schools.
Axel's class was entered in a special run over a couple of miles
and he came
in the top third field in place 119. Congratulations!
Axel and one of his class mates Kevin. Everyone was smiling
afterwards as they got medals and bags with goodies.
(No, Axel likes drag racing even more after this, but his daddy
likes
him to test it all and find it out himself...)
May 6
Slowly dismantling
This garage is tight like a frozen cat's ass in a overfilled wet tumbler
on a backyard in Mumbai during a saturday afternoon.
I have never taken apart the engine when it still was in the car and
this takes some new tricks. Like where to put all the stuff...
At least it's quiet in the garage so I can talk to friends who
can give me good advices. I think I'll need that now...
May 2 - 3
The Stockholm Sofa
Lelle Olsson's home in Huddinge, south of Stockholm. Lelle is
nowadays most known for his site nitroz.se which is kind of the
internet hub for all of us american car and drag racing
enthusiasts
in Scandinavia
.
This is Lelle in his garage and it seems like the motoring parts
are mixed with more and more TV and video technique.
"Buy it Bostic!" said Lelle after uncovering it.
Donovan all aluminium Chevy with Batten heads! This is music
from the 70's! No, not for sale really...
Lelle Olsson's office. Today Lelle is also well known for providing
timing equipment and result services for drag races. You can find
the results as they happen on
Nitroz.se and on the new
international site dragracing.eu
Old School things
"White Ligtning" is what Lelle was most known for back in the 80's.
His
monstrous injected 1965 Impala streetracer seen here from
Condor's and my article in Bilsport magazine with the headline
"Fastest in Stockholm?"
Lelle still have the Impala somewhere...
Nitroz.se is the home of the "Motorsoffan" (engine sofa) which is a
weekly (wednesdays) aired hour-long interviews with people in
the hobby/business. It has been going successfully since 2009.
And I was invited for the last sofa of the spring.
Luckily I worked in Stockholm these days so I could come over
in the evening for the interview. The studio is located in this
small house
in Lelles backyard.
Edit suite. Lelle is like a TV director!
The Motorsoffan!
The view from the sofa. Host Henrik Modigh up and dancing, showing
us some useful steps. He is also a speaker at
drag races. Also
had
a business of building rear ends for drag racing. But he have always
been a DJ! And you can hear him playing good music and
interviewing people on this web radio during races at Tierp Arena:
tierparena.com/Race-&-Rock
Henrik's "sidekick" Pär Willén is also speaker at drag races, even at
Santa Pod in the UK. Knows
very
much of everything, but has
his
heart within the world of drag bikes,
especially
Harley Davidson.
Works at Exclusive Cars.
The Sofa result? I think his cameras
make you look old and fat
and talk too much...
You'll find all Sofas in the archive here:
www.nitroz.se/motorsoffan
April 30
The annual Cortège
The students' parade on Walpurgis Night every April 30th is very
popular,
and has been for over 100 years! Its history here!
The streets are filled with around 250.000 (!) spring-loving
Gothenburgers
laughing
at the
studentesque satiric humour
presented
by the (barely sober)
youngsters
marching
through
the city.
This year it was over
50
trucks
with
different themes!
Here comes the first troop.
It is the students of Chalmers who are the masters of the parade.
Chalmers
is a technical university which can be understood when
seeing all the fun vehicles in the parade. The best part we think.
Das Auto. Has really nothing to do with the Volkswagen slogan, or
has it?
(German "Das" = swedish "dass" = loo)
A couple of small mopeds bursted back and forth in high speeds.
And no helmets! I think all of us bystanders were full of envy!
Did you know that the word "moped" is a Swedish construction?
Read all about it here on Wikipedia:
"The word moped was coined by Swedish journalist
Harald
Nielsen
in 1952, as a portmanteau of motor and pedal.
It is however..."
"Be Cool with Car Pool". Well, "Be Cold" I would guess.
The Bad Car was broken. Bad car = swedish "badkar" = bathtub
And a hovercraft of course. Jesus or Moses riding it? I have no idea.
It worked and that was the entertaining part.
A dragon something built by a string of empty oil drums.
The students can here live out their dreams from when they were
15.
Or 10.
"Tired of small car? - extend it and drive in style"
Ok. Actually the Winner of the whole parade!
More inside information here www.cortegen.se
A shortened Volvo 740...convertible. Electric driven!
The electric power came the groaning and puffin' generator
on the trailer behind.
Just a beautiful SAAB 95.
"Empty at the Bank - then we start the Tank"
I guess the theme was suggesting that war is a good way of
doing business!
Yabba Dabba Do Time! A Flintstones' bus! It will defenitely
save world oil...
The USA vs. China theme on future space funding.
I don't know what this was all about but the guys were very popular
as they looked like young Eddie Izzards
Walpurgis Night
After the Cortège we took our bikes to the traditional bonfire on this
Valborg day the April 30th - the
"majbrasa" /
"valborgsbrasa". Not
seen
here in these pictures, but very many attends every year.
Great problem - and
growing
- is
the large hordes of rat-arsed
teenagers laying about everywhere. Their parents must be even
more drunk
somewhere else?
At the fire there were some fire worshipers and jongleurs entertaining.
It was a
good time to test my new camera...
Kent Edin is All In
His new bus and the look of it all shows that this is serious stuff!
It is a Volvo B-58 from 1978.
This is how the bus looked on the other side, "Moped" something...
Kent has finally got his ProCharger back from the manufacturer
after repairing the internals - via connection Birgitta at Autoshop.
Earlier this winter Kent found these teeth coming out with the oil.
ProCharger suggested that it broke due to over-revving by Kent but
then Kent showed his black belt from his Kyokushinkai karate
which actually means "the society of the ultimate truth".
Also it helped that Birgitta gave Kent The Formula:
Diameter of crank pulley divided with diameter of blower pulley
X
Gear Ratio of
F2 blower 5.40
X
Engine RPM
=
Blower RPM
Max RPM F2 Blower is 65000
Kent got to a conclusion that he never revved more than 56160 RPM
@ 6500 engine RPM. So it was well under the max RPM 65000.
As a sugary token ProCharger mounted a cone on his F2!
A thing
that I have tried to get for some ten years...
Kent have also mounted a hitch so it will be easier to get towed...
"It can't hold together forever..."
Finally Kent have changed from the too quick 4.11 gears to the more
right 3.71
(Not only because I use it). The 4.11 forced Kent to
shift to overdrive before the finishline!
Kent will race in class ET Pro in Piteå, Fällfors, Sundsvall and just
maybe we'll meet each other in June or August at Tierp Arena?
April 28
Agneta recognized
Left the lab -
for fermented super food
Congratulations my dear wife!
Now the local morning paper Göteborgs-Posten have made a big
article about Agneta and her work with fermented vegetables!
She has always been struggling slowly but surely forward to make
this
profitable. This very positive recognition is not just fair, maybe
it is also
what she
need to boost sales even more?
See the whole article here Göteborgs-Posten
Visit her own site here Undermat
April 26
Heavy duty work!
Cherry tree is gone and we can build our "Friggebod" at last.
Neighbors said
OK and signed the paper for it (before we even cut
down the tree).
A Friggebod is what you can build on your property
without asking
the local government. A maximum of 161 square
feet is allowed, (15 square meters). We buy the Friggebod as a kit.
But I need to get rid of rock in that corner first!
I rented the whole rock drilling kit at Cramo. You get a kompressor
on wheels and a 20 meter hose to begin with.
The jackhammer weighs like 60 lbs (27 kg) and it's that weight that
is making the drilling to happen, you don't press anything yourself,
you just hold it and it'll do the work. I choose to work with both
40 cm and 80 cm drills.
Diameter 34 mm.
Here's the problem. You see where the Friggebod corner will be.
A good deal of the rock has to go, as well as the cherry tree stub.
I haven't done anything of this before so it was
exciting,
especially since I updated it live at Facebook for the
cheering crowd.
.
It was rather easy when getting started. Also Axel thought so.
However, since it's only On or Off on this jackhammer
it can take
some
wrestling before it has begun doing a hole
to stay in.
It easily slips away.
Seen from above from neighbors fence, some of the holes
that was
drilled.
Phew! It was nice to have that dirty heavy part done so all the
protective things can be taken off - visors, breathing filter, glasses,
ear muffs and souvenir Chinese communist hat (for real work only).
Now it's time to blend the dynamite...
It is called "snail dynamite" in Swedish. An expansive mortar
used when you can't use real dynamite. You must use a drilling
machine with a blender prop to be able to blend that dry powder
in time, because time is tight. You have only minutes to blend
and fill the holes.
All holes were filled in a hurry.
Next morning...magic! They say it can take at least 10 hours, but
often more. Shouldn't be too cold or too warm. I believe we
hit the
perfect conditions. It produces an extreme pressure
of 40-100 MPa
(4000-10000 t/m²).
Axel bending out the cracked pieces.
A couple of iron-bar levers are useful. And a sledge-hammer
just for fun.
The most tiresome part in the process was to move away those rocks
with a wheelbarrow - upwards! One person at the handles and two by
the
rope (except for this time when I had to take a picture). To the far
right you see our first wheelbarrow which broke under this load...
It happened that the heavy rocks got the wheelbarrow to tip
over.
Even more sweat awaits then! We'll build a small wall up
there
with these new
rocks just to get rid of them.
Now we're just waiting for the Friggebod kit to be delivered so we
can
start to build it, after some ground prep first.
Well, now you see that I'm involved in many other things
than the Impala SS...
April 23
E-intake
Winter hasn't been filled with energy for working on the SS engine.
Mainly because of lack of time due to much work both at
home and
at
work.
I can't go out to the garage for an hour at a time,
I need
days
in a row. So I took
some days off from work to get started!
What's up? Well, the heads are going off to repair broken valve
(maybe more than one?) and a general overhaul.
Head gasket is
blewn on driver's side.
A lot happened that last run on
Night of Fire at Tierp Arena!
And this time is the right time to change to this Victor "E" intake
which I already have announced earlier on this page. It will take
some time. I'm glad that Kenneth Feldthusen has promised to
help me with this,
a lot of welding and machine work is
needed to get it done.
Since I'm late into this season anyway, it doesn't matter
if I will get
even more late.
Maybe a start in August, September, October?
Above is the first time I mocked that intake up with engine in car.
Hood clearance report: Touching, not pressing.
Freshing it up
Agneta started to paint our glass veranda because she wanted it to
be fresh when opening her Undermat home shop in it. But she
couldn't
stop, she continued to paint on the outside, more and more.
Suddenly she found herself painting the whole front of the house!
See the difference! From 33 year old weather-beaten and treated
natural wood - to this!
And grey to all the rest, matching the grey doors and
garage port.
Think what a little paint and a wife can do!
April 22
Bonfire
Exciting day is when neighbour Helge decides it's time to have the
bonfire of the spring. For us it isn't really the tradition of the spring
bonfires -
"majbrasa" -
we
just want to burn our collected scrap.
Like our newly cut down cherry tree (scroll down to April 1-3)
Axel likes to be with the aldermen of the street and discuss things.
And drinking coffee from a Snowball coffee mug.
April 21
Pleasing a sponsor
Kenneth Feldthusen is as close to a drag racing pro as you can get.
He travels around the country with parts of his team to different
resailers of his
sponsor Nilfisk ALTO to show his car and products
of the manufacturer. Like here when
we found them outside
Bauhaus in Gothenburg.
His A/AA Altered always get people curious and at some events they
even start up the monster! Of course everyone see the
connection
between his car and the brand Nilfisk ALTO when the
resailer put
up special bargains of the day. Kenneth's daily work
is actually at
Nilfisk ALTO in Gothenburg so he can also sell the products
by
heart. You can't come closer to a pro situation than that.
Ingemar "Gomez" Johansson always answers every question with
a
smile
and
a bit of passion. Team Northrace / Nilfisk ALTO
have
a
schedule for every promotion year and racing season here.
April 9 - 12
Archive Dive
I found more black/white negatives and photos from my early
promotion years
than I could remember
that I had! The reason I had
to take this dive was that journalist Christina Bodén was writing a
book and
needed pictures
to illustrate a chapter about late
Lennart "Bagarn" Bergqvist
and
yours truly!
"The Swedish History on The World's Fastest Motorsport"
This was the first book she wrote in 2007 with 240 color pages.
Now soon book No 2
will be released. Of course I will inform
you where to find it but normally they sell at the races.
This was the find I was most happy with. I had totally forgot that
I had taken a series of photos of "Bagarn" in his first cold garage (no
heating). It was underneath his dad Nils Bergqvist's thinbread factory
in Röbäck south of Umeå. It was because of his dad's work this
youngster was called "Baker". I just held these BW negatives in the
window
and snapped a couple of shots with my new camera and
inverted them in Photoshop. Nice proper touch I think.
The story begins with streetracer "Bagarn" who loudly curses in
this garage because
he had
to weld
a rollbar into his Nova due to
the normal rules of drag racing.
And the only tubes he found and
could afford
was
too thick and too heavy - hence the
cursing.
Next race he
crashed his Nova and rolled it good in Piteå in 1979.
See, 1st race at Piteå Dragway in 1976. Golden negatives!
A streetrace story in Colorod #10 1978. One of the first written in
Sweden about the racing itself.
I believe this one page
article started
up thousands of pages
about streetracers in many nordic magazines
in the years to follow...
Click it to be able to read it. Only in Swedish.
Whiplash 1983
Archive Special
First start of the new Whiplash 355" engine built by "Bagarn".
I will never forget the stress!
Because it was a
nervous moment when starting a mechanical
camshaft for
the first
time to break it in. It was an Isky
Z85
NASCAR camshaft, drained in
STP. The oil channels was
primed
with the "drill special" until oil
pressure was noted, then we put
back
the distributor in the back.
When started we held it at 2000-2500 RPM for 20 minutes
before it
was done, and it was easily heard with open headers if I may say so.
The premiere start was a success. Phew! We didn't need to take out
engine and take it apart to change to another Z85...
When the 355 was cold again we
changed the oil filter and drained
the mineral oil to put in our racing
oil which was synthetic Mobil oil.
Back in the days, to use synthetic
oil
was considered stupid by many experts. We used mineral oil for the
break in since it was cheaper and should be trashed afterwards.
First run with the new Whiplash engine built by "Bagarn" 1983.
A jump at the start and
also this small wheelie at 2nd gear
promised a lot! And indeed,
a lot
we got. Click it.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Archive Special
What a good picture! Taken by "Bagarn" from the backseat of the
Hot Vapor car. I'm on the left
driving, can you see who's on the right?
This Hot Vapor V2-driven Dodge Omni shot like a rocket on North
Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. So Smokey Yunick,
here in a
driver's window pose that was seen by Fireball Roberts,
Curtis Turner
and other
famous Stock Car drivers,
told
me to take it
easy because "the police is around the corner".
And
not long
after
the sirens was heard and Smokey reacted in a
way that looked rehearsed - took the wheel and drove it into "The
Best Damn Garage In Town" and just left a cloud of smoke...
"Bagarn" and I discussed it and laughed and thought that the
police
must have
warned Smokey many times over the decades
when
he was testing all
his race cars...
A very well working V2 Hot Vapor which Smokey Yunick made out
of a Chrysler V6. My God it pushed power!
"Bagarn" met his only idol and helped me in trying to reveal the
secrets of Hot Vapor when I was writing an article for Bilsport
Magazine. Why no detonations? This was a carburator solution
and became obsolete when fuel injection came and dominated
the market. Anyway, GM bought it from their long time partner
Henry "Smokey" Yunick to end the story. Or?
Who's that girl?
Archive Special
Total blank. This picture was taken at Bilsport Summer Meet,
Mantorp Park in 1985, probably by myself. I found it when I was
swimming
around in my archive. And this pretty lady, standing
there
as a
real
Trailer Queen,
was
wearing my special t-shirt!
Only 10 was
made of those!
It says "I'm
proud to be one of Bostic
Bolero's
girlfriends"
(I had a matching t-shirt saying "I'm Bostic Bolero")
But I can't really remember her, so please, if you know contact me
and
fill in the blanks.
Click for a BIG size version!
April 8
Street legal into 6's!
Congratulations Andy Frost who finally entered the 6's
in his
infamous twin turbo 1972 Vauxhall "Red Victor" which he built
to
compete
in
Pro Mod! It has passed the inspection at the MVI in
the
UK
which
means it is street legal with functioning wipers, power
windows, lights, indicators, horn and all the rest that is needed!
And it wasn't long ago Andy released the film when he was out
cruising this crazy Vauxhall in traffic! Then he uses Shell 100 octane.
On the dragstrip he changes to methanol.
Nice timeslip! 6.9995 seconds!
Visit Andy's website to read about this project which
is his
fastest Vauxhall so far and the fastest street legal car in Europe!
And watch all the films: redvictor1racing.co.uk
On Facebook: facebook.com/Red_Victor
April 6 - 8
Easter at the cottage
Agneta and her dad have made this wood-fired oven to be able to
make GOOD bread every day.
The secret is the heat. When the fire have done its work you
shovel it out and bring in the unbaked bread.
Baguettes made in that oven. Warm, melting butter...mmmm!
Another benefit with that wood-fired oven is that Axel can practice
as a blacksmith and learn about different metals.
Late dinner. Again, amazing camera. Handheld, no flash.
Axel put up his new bird house which he designed when in
Stockholm. It's a skyscraper.
Hey Axel, your sign "Hotel Axel" was misspelled!
-Birds can't read, answered Axel. Point.
A project on the to-do list, a homemade dirt gocart with a broken
Sachs 50 cc moped engine. Agneta wanted to throw it away but I
said -No way! I'll fix it and paint it!
(ooops what did I promise?)
April 5
Bilsport 50 years party!
Again!
I had to buy a new camera before leaving for the party evening in
Jönköping,
so I went to Scandinavian Photo
for a
discussion
about
"whassup today regarding compacts". The
choice
was a
Canon
Power Shot S100. More expensive than some
big
system
cameras
due to its new sensor technique and more. I was so glad
even
before
I
learned that I had bought the best camera in the world...
Camera facts: preview.com/reviews/Canon_S100
At the Elite Stora Hotellet in downtown Jönköping I first met up with
Lars-Inge Johansson and his daughter Jenny for "a milk in the bar"
before going
to the party. Bilsport Magazine treated all their guests
with the hotel
rooms and
a round in the bar! Normally Lars-Inge
could
order a milk but now splashed out for a cranberry juice because
"it's partytime!" He is almost an abstainer but very nice even so. :-)
Welcome to Bilsport 50 years! The party was held at Elmia which
also is the giant exhibition facility for the yearly Bilsport Custom
Show
which is the largest show of its kind in Northern Europe.
The party was held on the evening before opening this show.
A long steady stream of guests shook hands with the publisher
Stig L Sjöberg.
Mingling was fun. Celebrities meet celebrites.
Stig proudly welcomed everybody.
And that meant over 400 guests!
Only the first hall of cars was open this evening. It was Bilsport's
own
50 year collection, showing
cars that has been
published
over the
years and became readers favorites, like Lars-Inge's
"Skåpet"
(The Station Wagon) which was
a built-for-business
Chevy
Bigblock
streetracer in the
early 80's and the first
street legal car into
the 9's.
With this car he set the bar high.
2012 meets 1984. 28 years between the Bostic pictures and I can
hardly
see any differences! Can you? Maybe the glasses have
moved up a bit...?
The sign read: "The Best of Bostic - In the beginning of the 80's
were the readers of Bilsport entertained by Anders 'Bostic' Envall
and
his standing companion Christer 'Condor' Ljungaeus with
many
wild and funny articles. Presented here are a few quotes
and
pictures"
Our article about "Linkan" was considered a "classic"
Göran Ambell and Sture Torngren are the former editors of another
Swedish magazine, the monthly
published Wheels. But they were
invited and awarded a special award for their eager work to get the
Swedish government to change the rules so it became legal to build
your own car, and the SFRO rules
were introduced in 1982!
They did the impossible. Cheers!
The seating for all these specially invited guests was
interesting.
What an evening Bilsport treated us with! It was a fantastic dinner
and awards presentations and
great
entertainment in the theme
of Elvis Presley - since the theme for the Custom Show also was
Elvis.
Thank you Bilsport!
One of very few flash exposes shows author and journalist Sten
Berglind
(right) & Co at our table.
One of Sweden's earliest rock'n'roll stars of the 50's was
Little
Gerhard. Today he's 80 years and still a good singer and a fun
entertainer, said "I must be back before 10 when they close the door
at the home for the elderly". The audience just loved him! Here I'm
still experimenting with the camera and no flash.
And I recorded a bit from his biggest hit "Bona Sera" with my
iPhone and you can have a short look HERE!
(I have no idea why I didn't test to film with my new Canon S100
which is recording in full HD 1080...)
Joe Esposito was the closest friend of Elvis and worked in his staff
all the way
back from the military days in Germany. He told some
good stories for us...
Reggie Young is one of the top studio guitarist in USA and have
played with most stars, including Elvis. He played this very acoustic
guitar when they recorded "In The Ghetto" and before this trip he
managed to borrow back the guitar from the museum in Nashville
just to play it on this small tour. He hadn't played it in 25 years!
youtube.com/watchReggieYoung-Bilsport50years-2012april5
Watch this clip which is recorded by SycloneRobban
who also
must have a hell of a camera!
Congratulations Lars-Inge Johansson for a Trend Setter Award!
Just look at this camera's performance! The only light is that candle
and camera chooses ISO 1600, aperture 2 and 1/10 of second!
I begged the people to sit tight at 3 and did a count down, but hey
this is really amazing! Click to get the picture in its real size of
4000 x 3000 in 180 dpi, untouched. Warning, that's big!
I was sitting on this distance and taking shots without flashes...
Here is with the standard 24 mm wide angle.
Used the 5x optical zoom.
ISO 800 f/5.9 1/60
Then the last 4x digital zoom (totally 20x!) Still fabulous quality!
ISO 800 f/5.9 1/60
There were a lot of Elvises in Jönköping during the Custom Show
and there were a couple of them entertaining this evening as well.
This is Denni W from USA who sang Elvis from a stage for the
first time!
It was great!
Another magic exposure! Åse Kinnemar and Micke Gullqvist from
Speedgroup
lit only
by candle light. This camera can turn in to as
much
as ISO 6400 but here it only needed ISO 1600!
My hero was there - Leif Helander from Matfors! Discussions were
about if he could run his new nitro Funny Car at Tierp Arena even
if the class Funny Car isn't present in Sweden? As I understood
Micke Gullqvist, it looks like we're going to enjoy Hero Helander
this
summer at Tierp Arena which is a track that can handle a
nitro FC!
That alone is worth going to Tierp Arena for. Thank you.
20 years ago they were deadly enimies in Pro Stock, now they laugh
and give advices. Per-Kristian Skinne and Jari Konola found in the
Men's room. Nowadays Per-Kristian in Norway build marine engines
and Jari in Stockholm also build customer engines and is running
a dyno business, besides playing ice hockey in a veteran team
called "Golden
Camels" (!) and he also was involved in winning
a tournament
recently in
Canada,
something like that...
Skinne, Kent Redmo, Konola and I were very happy for this party
and are looking forward to the next 50 Year's
Party. I mean, I have
now only
been to two,
the one in Stockholm on January 28
(scroll down)
and this one. And all good things are three.
Bilsport recorded four songs with Danny W this evening, made CD's
overnight and gave to every guest...
Thanks Bilsport!
However, I didn't visit the big Custom Show since I had promised
the family to go to our cottage. I know it was fantastic as usual
and you can read a little about it here (in Swedish):
bilsport.se/CustomShow
Or even better, buy the Bilsport Magazine and all other automotive
magazines in the North of Europe.
April 4
Undermat home shop
Agneta has worked a lot to get her home shop running in our house.
She began
with cleaning, then painting and then fixing the interior.
She sells both her own products and now also choosen high quality
products that matches well with hers. Honey, Goat Cheese, farm
butter and delicacy like that.
On the 5th she opened the doors. Just in the beginning of Easter.
More about this at her own website here!
April 1 and 3
He's a Lumberjack...
It was time to obviate the old cherry tree in our backyard. First it got
some well deserved hugs for all the years it had been with us.
The
neighbours in that white house have been hinted their wishes
for a non-tree view, of course. And Agneta hasn't liked that old tree
too much either. I
just wanted
Axel and friends
to
experience to
build
a
tree house first, and now
that was done.
So it was time.
Standing on a ladder with a chainsaw isn't optimal, it's even stupid,
professionals never do that. But I'm no professional and had to do it.
It began with First lesson of handling a chainsaw by Axel's grand
dad
Thore.
It was a lesson both for Axel and me. Funny, it actually
didn't say
anything about climbing ladders with running chainsaws!
Keep the women away from the danger!
Solly neighbours! Nothing broke!
Anyway, after chopping the branches one by one we could bring
down the trunk and it showed to be hollow all the way up! And a
home
for millions of black ants! So it was really time to take it down!
Maybe you know the feeling...
Suddenly the backyard was filled with cherry tree parts in all
sizes.
We had to refill a couple of times. Our own blend of VP Motorsports
109 octane and Pennzoil...it both smelled good and ran like hell!
Axel was a quick learner and was doing all the chopping after a while.
Yes, he knows
about having the saw body to contact the tree, even
if
the
blade is halfways out here, I guess he were searching
for the
slot
or something here? Anyway, you don't need to email about it. :-)
So sweet it is when your mother comes out with fika in the middle of
all the hard work! And the sun is warming. Life is wonderful.
This is what it ended up like, a pile of firewood for next winter.
Before - After
However, I'm really sad that this view is gone for ever. First week of
May
every year we were treated with this wonderful cherry tree
blooming, like this view from the garage.
Over 3 million people can't be wrong, enjoy:
youtube.com/Lumberjack_Monty_Python
Please sing along:
BARBER:
I wanted to be... a lumberjack!
Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty
rivers of British Columbia. The Giant Redwood. The Larch.
The Fir! The mighty Scots Pine! The lofty flowering
Cherry! The plucky little Apsen! The limping Roo tree of Nigeria.
The towering Wattle of Aldershot! The Maidenhead Weeping
Water Plant! The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak!
The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip! The Quercus Maximus
Bamber Gascoigni! The Epigillus! The Barter Hughius Greenus!
With my best buddy by my side, we'd sing! Sing! Sing!
[singing]
I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.
MOUNTIES:
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
BARBER:
I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.
MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shopping
And has buttered scones for tea.
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
BARBER:
I cut down trees. I skip and jump.
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars.
MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps.
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around in bars?!
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
BARBER:
I cut down trees. I wear high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie,
Just like my dear Papa.
MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He wears high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra?!
[talking]
What's this? Wants to be a girlie?! Oh, My!
And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter!...
[singing]
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
March 29
The last grump
The legend Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins died this day March 29.
His legacy is so big, but
for me
he was mostly the Chevy small block
wizard.
The Smokey
Yunick of drag racing maybe? Even if Smokey
was on
a factory R&D
level, engine design - Grumpy for sure put
some
serious
R&D years into the Chevy engines too, for drag racing
purpose
only!
And had a whole life of winning success to show for it!
I would say he was more the Don Garlits of Pro Stock.
I met him once briefly in a restaurant in Gainesville Florida, but too
short for a personal description. Yes, he had a lot of grumpy sounds
and I guess that was what was expected in his role as himself?
"His continual search for improved performance left little
time for idle chatter with his racing colleagues."
There are lot of descriptions and stories about the legend Bill
"Grumpy" Jenkins everywhere on the net, Google him! Here is one:
wikipedia.org/Bill_Jenkins
Ten years ago Bill Jenkins came over and read the plugs in the
World record holder and event winning Autoshop Oldsmobile! That
certainly made Lennart "Bagarn" Bergqvist's day since it was well
known that
nobody could read plugs like Grumpy!
Good write up at NHRA why Grumpy was among drag racing's Top 10:
nhra.net/Bill_Jenkins
March 29
TBDGIT report
It was some time ago since I visited The Best Damn Garage In
Town
so I went there to see what was going on. And it was full of cars and
action! Patrick's Pro Mod Camaro looked ready to race but had been
pushed into a corner and replaced by a tank on wheels that Tommy
worked on, but not today, no, now everyone worked with these cars!
Aha! Sören "Fixarn" Fjällstedt was found under the 1961 Impala!
He was inspecting the welding work done by Tommy Aga (in red).
Filip Fjällstedt is learning every minute he is with daddy.
A 348 beautyfies the engine bay. Little sister to the 409. See, once
Chevy also had easy spark plug access like the Chrysler Hemi...
Sören do a lot of things helping people out in their business around
american cars, even import them. Now and then he hire good skilled
folks
like Tommy Aga and Patrick Wikström to overhaul the projects,
making them better and more prepared for the
critical
first
registration inspection in the new country.
The former owner of this 1961 Impala wanted to have that look of
an ol' drag car, even though it never ran the quartermile. Yet.
The Jenkins Competiton sticker in the earlier note above about
"Grumpy"
is from this Impala's front fender.
We like that Hurst shifter.
Clarksburg West Virginia. Do you know where it is?
The most beautiful part of the 1961 Impala is of course its rear deck!
Impala Rear Design School - Light version
The first Chevrolet Impala didn't have the greatest wings. Sören
"Fixarn"
Fjällstedt
and daughter Alice showed in June 2010 this
beautiful 1958 Impala they
just had imported from USA.
Here is where it all started, the classical 1959 Impala with the tailfins
that had a grip on the space dreams. "We gave it wings
and it
flew". This is from the release in London in 1958 where they
had matching glasses! More here
1960 came with the bent wings and separate tail lights.
See what I mean?
Next year 1962 it was more moderate and the wings were gone.
Straight and beautiful, like this specimen that is owned by the
infamous swedish criminals - The The Jönsson Gang!
In my opinion the rear of the 1965 is the most beautiful of all Impalas!
And on our 1996 Impala SS - the last of the real Impalas - you can
still see that feature that has
been there since the start - three
lights on both sides!
March 15
Recycling gone bad!
Shocking "Recycling" where
you'll find some of the most
exclusive
vehicles in the history of man,
just stacked upon each other in a
car dump! Shocking...and popular! Because it is the latest 3D art
made by my brother Sune, and you can buy it as a wall poster.
A detail.
The Photowall company have a page at Facebook and it got very
active when they released this poster "Recycling"...
www.facebook.com/photowall/SuneEnvall
This is how you can use the poster according to Photowall. You
can
order this poster and many another via their website:
www.photowall.se/designers/sune-envall
Also in Sune's hometown Västerås: www.grafobild.se
Signed edition in USA: Cruisin Goods, Longmont Colorado.
March 13
Planets aligning
Planets Jupiter and Venus almost in line! A wondrous experience.
No matter what we people are involved in, when the universe talks
to us, we listen. At least I did. And I can now better understand that
mankind always has read the sky for omens and I think this
must mean that it's time for the Blackout SS to
prevail!
March 9-10
Cool and cold record!
It was the classical contest on the flying kilometre – but on ice!
Michael Hernvall from Gothenburg surprised us all to show up on
the ice with his monster Buick Roadmaster with stroker 396!
Michael's story: "“A path of 3.2 km had been ploughed on the Orsa
Lake. One acceleration kilometer up to the 1 km
measurement
distance and then 1.2 km braking distance".
"My best average speed
was 203.5 km. The best entrance
speed
was
194 kmh and best end
speed 214.5 km
but it's the average
that counts. There was only one natural aspirated car that was faster
than my Roadmaster, who beat me with just 1.2 kmh! Annoying!
Best average speed
this year was
set
with a supercharged
4-wheel
driven Audi at 251 kmh".
TJOFF!
"It was wet and mushy, so it was pretty exciting to drive!
During the first run I had no control at all of RPM's or anything else!
All focus was on trying to keep the car from spin and slide. But it
was remarkable steady after all. The chatter of ice and water
blasting underneat
the car was dominating! And I felt quite
strong
braking when running into the ponds!"
"People were very impressed by the fact that such a large station
wagon could move as it did. I ran rallye tires, 205/15 back and 145/16
front full with spikes! It turned out to work pretty well. I also had a set
of real ice racing tires, but I never got the time to test those, which
I believe had bettered the performance. Next year!"
"Best performance so far at the Orsa Lake is clocked in 2010 by a
Suzuki
Hayabusa turbo with an average of 286.5 kmh! The final
velocity was 340 kmh with 425 hp on the rear wheel!
Kind of
masculine thing to do, to ride a bike on ice at over 300 kmh!
Nothing I'm looking for, I'm sitting comfortable in the Roadmaster!"
I think this was the third success year in a row? Check it out:
www.landracing.se/
March 1
Back to the Future!
At last! The full TV-hour from Drag Festival 1991 is re-mastered and
put
on DVD - by public demand from people who once saw it and
recorded it on VHS - which today is out of work. It still get a lot of
praise which of course makes me happy as the director for it! :-)
Send your order and address to dragster@vingaland.se and you'll
get the DVD in you mailbox with an invoice of 200 SEK.
February 11 - 17
Time for Stockholm
We went to Stockholm for a vacation. Our captial city,
and
the most
beautiful city in all of Sweden. Even in the winter. It was a week of
Swedish history, music, museums, restaurants, relatives, legends...
We said that we should approach Stockholm as any other big city
like Copenhagen, Rome and London. And not rely on people we
know,
not staying with relatives, just discover it like tourists.
Axel and Agneta had not even been inside Stockholm before.
It was a lot of laughters! We visited "a-museum-a-day" and we
began
at the Vasa Museum which alone was worth the trip across
Sweden.
I would like to spend at least one more day there!
New restaurants everyday. That is real vacationing. This was at
the
Ulla Winbladh Inn in
Djurgården.
Ulla was a tavern prostitute in
Carl-Micael Bellman songs.
It was nice with a round of relatives that we usually do not meet
too often, like the twins Hugo and Albin Envall in Täby! Their parents
are
Erik and
Jossan Envall and Erik is a cousin to Axel.
We got a little time over to visit the legend Raymond Blixt in his
workshop Alexandra Engineering in the Alexandra garaget on the
southside of Stockholm. He was the last magician working on my
4L80E transmission in the Impala SS. We saw many of his
machines in this clean and orderly shop and he also showed this
special "thing"
for drag racing Powerglides
which
he and "Tucken"
from Danielssons Bil has constructed.
More of all this when the Stockholm adventure finally is done
on the Vacation page so keep you eyes open.
February 7
Busy busy busy...
But it's fun fun fun! We're producing a lot of films
at Vingaland
Film
nowadays.
More than ever. All of us are very busy.
For a brief moment I was
involved in seven projects in different stages!
Luckily I came
out of it
unhurt. And it should explain why the activity
was
low in updating
this
site during this period.
And it should explain the low activity in the
garage...poor SS!
Above Fobbe is filming with a DSLR camera
which is what you use
today, with best "bang for the buck" with exceptional picture quality.
Gone are the betacam design
systems, even those recording
on cards and discs.
Recording on tape disappeared 3-4 years ago.
All shootings are special and have their own problems and solutions.
Like
hiding the microphone on actors in IKEA uniforms.
To hide the bug behind the name badge was a new one.
Malena Alfgården helped Tina Glenvik to put on the badge by
puncture a hole for the microphone cable.
With a sender and a receiver the trick was complete.
Malena is a professional make up artist who brings her wagon
and
always makes
everyone look good in our productions. Malena
is often involved in big TV-shows like the recent
Melodifestivalen
and the most famous face she has worked
with was Al Gore's.
February 6
Axel 14
Axel invited the whole tribe to his 14th birthday party. And promised
to
help out with everything that needed to get fixed.
Axel also made his own wishing of the party menu - hot dogs and
pommes
frites.
And it should be home made pommes so he had to
peel a lot of potatoes. I helped him with this "punishment"...
...and we talked about potato peeling as a classic punishment in
films.
This must the first example from 1928? But we have seen
Chaplin,
Buster Keaton,
Laurel &
Hardy, Marx Brothers and the
swedish
actor Nils Poppe and other unfortune souls doing this
purnishment
on boats or in the military.
This is a much more fun step in the process - the pommes cutter!
Years ago Axel's uncle Sune came up with this idea of pommes
frites! Stars'n'strips - which would need a special cutter which was
where the design really
took place, and it is also why it needed to be
a six-point star instead of a five-point, it was a question of symmetry
in fabricating the tool. For you who read all this way should know
that this design, beside being fun, is also a way of fritter the strips
quicker since the fry area of the strip is far greater. Ask McDonald's
what they think about
Time? Sune never did, he have a constant
stream of ideas and no time to market them, so he just went on.
Sune is a full time designer and illustrator in his own company but
sometimes he just needs to play like with the picture above, which
is his idea of how Ignatius J Reilly's hot dog wagon looked
like in
our common
favourite book A Confederacy of Dunces
The frier was working overtime! But the pommes frites were the best
we've ever had!
It was not so much of a winter on the February 6th but it was cold
enough to kill a tulip.
Some of the Envall and Rooth families gathered, like Italians.
And everyone enjoyed the freshly made pommes frites and all the
fancy
kinds
of hot dogs handpicked by Axel and his mom Agneta.
Cheers to Axel! And congratulations!
Also on his wishing list - the icecream dessert. And those rasberries
definately tasted summer!
February 4
News from the North
Kent have started to work on his Gentle Giant SS for the season '12.
Oil cooler was moved from the place in between the intercooler and
the radiator, to this
place
behind the fender, to get full cooling area
on the intercooler and radiator. Because
too hot intake air and hot
water
is a greater problem than too hot automatic oil.
The new Cheetah shifter in the SS had Kent to
fabricate a new cover
plate that was covered with this carbon fiber tape... And where do
you think you can buy it? www.Hot Rod Heaven
...and it turned out to look this great!
There were more scratchy places that got the tape.
BTW, this is how Kent made room for that long, bending shifter cable.
Took away a little out the plastic walls in the middle glove
department between
the seats.
January 28
Bilsport 50 years party!
It was a giant party for 500 people that were invited to Älvsjömässan
to celebrate this magazine. It started in 1962 but got into bad sales
until Stig Sjöberg and Anders Albinsson bought it in 1975. And I was
aboard from 1980 to 1988 with photographer Chris Condor before we
started our own career in commercial filming with Broadcasters AB,
an idea which indeed was initiated by Stig Sjöberg! But neither
he or we could foresee
that film would demand all our working time!
The 80's was the hottest decade for Bilsport said Stig. We agree.
One of the motorsports legends that came to celebrate Stig & Co was
the
Formula 1 driver Reine Wisell who flew in from Thailand where
he lives during winters. When Reine's old F1 friend Ronnie Peterson
died in the
crash in 1978 the public interest for motorsport and
the
Bilsport magazine
just went downhill.
Stig and Anders saved the magazine by doing
articles about
the
readers and their cars instead. It became an unsurpassed success!
Bilsport said "Will such a great group of Swedish motorsport legends
and celebrities ever meet in one place again? Probably not"
The funniest woman in Sweden - Sissela Kyle - was the co-presenter
together
with Bilsport's Mikael Johansson who also was very
professional on stage.
She was funny all evening, on the theme that she couldn't care less
about cars and motorsport.
When Pro Stock driver Jimmy Ålund was
receiving the Senior Driver of the Year-award she said to
him
"...and the rumour saying that all dragracers wear ladies
underwear
isn't at all correct...right?!"
LaGaylia Frazier sang beautifully! This evening was complete. You
could wrap it together and sell the concept to a TV station. We have
already popular The Sports Gala and The Football Gala in Swedish
national
TV. Well here is The Motorsports Gala! Pack it, sell it!
Standning ovations for World famous Erik "Karlsson på Taket"
Carlsson who made SAAB wellknown internationally thanks to
fantastic performances in foreign rallyes in the 60's! He recieved
Bilsport Special
Award from Stig and was touched.
When mingling with Erik he said he remembered me from when we
met
in
Anderstorp 1978 at the Formula 1 Grand Prix race where
I was
working together with my brothers Sune and Björn doing
some SAAB marketing
work around Ronnie Peterson
and the
race itself.
Erik know Björn better
since they both worked for SAAB.
I got to meet more world famous
racers at this party, like Stig
Blomqvist who
also is a SAAB person but
a World Rally
Champ in
1984 in a Audi Quattro. This Stig
must've
also been the
igniting idea
for Top Gear's "The Stig"!
I also met Reine Wisell and
many others. It was too little mingling
time
because I also saw over there Kenny Bräck, Per
Eklund...
and also
many, many colleagues of course.
Oh what a party! It should have been two days!
I also saw these famous people, Lena Perés and her man Mats
Eriksson who was the first into 5's in European Pro Mod and also the
European
Champion in Pro Mod in 2009. And still at the front in
his Crown Victoria "Green Goblin"!
There were a lot of drag racers here of course!
Former colleaugue Bo Porshed, photographer for Bilsport in a deep
discussion with wellknown drag racing event speaker Björn Sundqvist.
Entertainer together with LaGaylia Frazier. And straight from "Ladies
night"
came Marcus Stenmarck who every
woman likes in Sweden.
When he
finally presented an Elvis Presley special at
the end of the
show...also every man liked him! It was a good groove!
Another great cheer came when surprised Åsa Kinnemar (right) had
to climb the stage to recieve the award for The Autosports Woman
of The Year! Of course because of the extensive work she do for
European drag racing
as the
only employed at Speedgroup, and
often with much help from some friends, like Aila Striem.
January 29
On my way home I saw this speciality from a Germany! A trailer that
are legal for 100 kmh (in Germany) and could at least take two
Mercedes like this one from 1962 that obviously had been
here for
a paintjob. This is a trailer worthy the 2 tonnes Impala SS!
BTW,
I've also owned a 1962 Mercedes but the other
model,
the one with fins.
January 21
Jack Frost says Hello
A perfect winter until this date. With little or no snow and temperature
above 0 degrees centigrade! But this day it all
broke loose!
It's fun to save on this website all these dates so we always can
come
back to see the when it happened - the
year's first snow,
first crash, first spring flower etc.
I went out for a spin (literally) in the middle of the day. I shouldn't
have because no one in Gothenburg is ever prepared for a
weather
like this! And that includes even me nowadays - the original
Northlander from Umeå grown up in a igloo eating snow (white!) and
all that!
There's too little training on
slippery surface here
in the
south,
it's only the runs with
the Impala
SS.
The above situation was on the top of a slope where a commuter bus
couldn't climb all the way over to the downward slope so he got stuck
sideways on the top! The two cars on the left have just done an U-turn
and I did too after this picture. It was summer surface the day before!
Couldn't get home for hours, so I
had to wait at a Burger King.
So this weather makes you fat too!
January 13
Kim and Åsa's treasury
Kim Svensson, shot here in a hard-to-get picture between his wife
Åsa's 1955
Thunderbird and
his own 1967 Corvette which makes a
fantastic duo
in his
garage in Halland! Kim is working for IKEA
as a
project leader
(and
a designer on the side!) and
that
is
how we
met,
since Vingaland
is making films
for IKEA. And on my way
home to
Gothenburg
after a meeting
he promised to show
his
treasury...
The '23 bathtub is aimed for street driving! Wheelie
bars
can come in handy...
It says 427 and is from the Corvette, but a 540 is on it's way... :-)
Two Harleys...Åsa's to the left is a (nearly) 2 Liter S&S 111" and
Kim's is a S&S 124" with more than 2 Litre.
In another garage of his I found two more on-going projects. Åsa's
Ford '41 pick up has a
Mickey Mouse-headed Chevy 350.
The 5-window Ford '31 is Kim's.
Widening of the fenders.
And some good sectioning.
I opened another door and there were even more garage! And cars!
I want a garage like this where
I could do 60-foot test runs indoors!
Thanks for the drool visit Kim!
January 12
Watch Super 8 history
Look what I found! The Super-8 film Kent Edin and I made from
the streetrace in Umeå in 1981.
Whiplash vs. Tore's Valiant with 327 Chevy. Real, legal streetcars.
The race wasn't legal of course as we were always chased by
the
law even if we never did disturb the general public. We wanted to
have our yearly competion done with as little friction as possible.
And we always managed to finalize our ladder, on different
locations
if necessary
but on the same night.
- If they confiscate that camera the sheriff will say
"I recognize
that mug all right!"
Birgitta and late Lennart "Bagarn" Bergqvist were always around and
these were the years when they founded their companies Verkstan
and Autoshop - which in Orlando became Autoshop Racing Engines.
Always serious 16-car ladders. Drivers back then put in 50 SEK
(300
today?)
and their names were drawn in a hat. This film follows
it
thoroughly. Today I also put music to the film, tunes which are
from 1981 or earlier, just to increase the nostalgic feeling.
Winner takes it all.
When this film was released on Facebook and Youtube, Chris Condor
saw this on the internet tabloid Aftonbladet! This bad language
makes it
very believeable...
"Like a wildfire on the net - insane duels in horror
speed the shock"
"Bagarn" won the first race of the T-shirt back in 1978!
More from this period of Whiplash racing here >WHIPLASH
The film from 1981? Well it is here Blackout Channel on Youtube Enjoy!
January 2
The Third Dimension
Remember the GoPro 3D camera rig I had mounted during the
Sweden Internationals at Tierp Arena? Well, now it's time to
have a look since we bought a 3D TV a couple of days ago...
(December 30, 2011)
Yes it a bit blurry on the screen when you haven't the 3D-glasses on.
The same
glasses you use at the cinemas. Fun for the family in the
sofa
to follow me
here in the Blackout SS in a round at Tierp Arena,
from pit to pit. Yes, the sound IS
terrible! Wonderfully terrible!
I also filmed a lot at the cottage where Axel took the boat to the lake
with the fourwheeler. Yes, of course I made sure that the rig would
go wide, close
into the trees. :-)
Filmed in the boat as well. No fish was landed but other fun stuff
happened. I dropped the oarlock into the water... (June 25, 2011)
December 31
We wish you All a
Happy New Year!
The last day of 2011 started out as a silent beautiful day
and
changed
to the opposite at midnight! Quite a spectacle! Every year.
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