Night driving south to Malmö. Three hours in the blacked out Sweden. Felt good. Felt right.


A real expensive bed at the Hotel St. Jörgen downtown Malmö. And
we needed two, for two nights. Not even a mini bar (my luck I guess).


Gusty winds killed my stainless bar as a welcome. It's always windy like hell here, said Mr Al Holt. The
Every Year European Pro Stock Champion Jimma Ålund came by and his two too cute kids took over
the tuning from Al while dad was talking slicks qualities with Frank Gudmundsen.


Over 300 teams came to the last race of the year in Sweden! Impressing, but really too much for the
event and the organization SRIF we found out early. It should be said that this race is starting with open
track already on Wednesday and Thursday so if you are there all five days you can certainly be lucky
to have many runs. But we had to work, so...


We thought we were smart when choosing to enter the heads-up Hot Street class instead of the Bracket
class. Why? Because the eliminations for the Bracket class was said to start already on Saturday
evening - same day as arrival! - so we thought maybe we only get one run then if loosing first round.
We don't have a chance in HS since all those cars are 1 second quicker, but at least we would get
one more qualification round. The smartness ended there. The Bracket class didn't start their eliminations
until Sunday after all, and of course I would have a much better chance in that class than in HS where
we could only walk into the kill. The pre-ordered meals were terrific! A very good idea!


The fundamental idea of drag racing is of course to get as big angle on the Wunderbaum as possible
(low numerical value). The closer after the launch, the better value. Patrik took this picture circa two
seconds after launch but I guess I've had values around 40-43° at Santa Pod.


Leif "Moppsen" is one of the nicest persons in any pit. He is (among many other things) the chef in Frank
Gudmundsens Comp-team, from Gothenburg as ourselves. He uses state-of-the-art tools even when he
works the grill. Always keep good relations with the chefs in the teams, you never know when you need
them! This time, Jonas and me, very much needed coffee in our long waiting. Thanks Team Just 4 Fun!


At your computer it looked like this via the webcam that the organizers SRIF has. It updates every four
second, which is good. But we all look forward to live webcams, everywhere. Thanks ChrisNorway for
being prepared with your keyboard finger when I was doing my few runs, here the 2nd round burnout.


The track was super. The traction was AWESOME!


During a run with 26 PSI of boost the black silicone tubing really has to work hard! The tubing showed
that they also had tried to climb off the 4" aluminium inlet to the intercooler, but smart design said
stop to that. Since we were on a lean excursion this time Jonas Mr Al Holt took some good time to read
the sparkplugs for warning signs, but they were OK.


Waiting...


Skåne - South of Sweden - is a little bit different. Just look at his shocking clothing!


...and waiting.


Lining for a "free run beside qualifying". And no start! Not only us that were greatly disappointed after
hours of waiting and queuing! Note arrow on window to help the driver to concentrate on fuel pressure
meter on the left, at least once during the run? Tomorrow then.


There he is! Alf and his GTO! He put in an all-out alky machine and was now running 4.76 @ 150 mph
(243 kmh) over the 1/8 mile! 60-foot: 1.16. This points to mid 7:s on the quartermile...


Qualifying lists read with the help of a cigarette lighter! It was easier to take a shot with the digital
camera and then zoom in to read. Last and 11th Qualifier - Kvalelvan! (not to be mistaken for Karl Ellwein)
What did I tell you Jonas! Hahaha! HS...bad idea!


We heard that the Stock/Super Stock class had hired this rockabilly band to entertain in the middle of
the pit on Saturday evening! Very good initiative! For a while we forgot how cold it was! Smart kid
in the audience!


This is the real BLACKOUT SS!


SUNDAY Sept 17

If waiting was bad on Saturday, it was even "badder" on Sunday! A very Blue day! We waited all day
long for our first Elimination Round (which we knew would terminate us). We had not so much to do,
not so much to think about... We could only listen to the race official chanting the hypnotizing:
"I'm repeating, Bracket to the lines, I'm repeating, Bracket to the lines!" over the PA until we
repeated it ourselves! Mr Alholt wanted us to pack and leave. He begged! I refused because I now
wanted to have the action of my fuel pressure instrument on videotape. Camera was ready.


Hours passed. Suddenly Mr Alholt was gone, I found him in here on the comfy back seat of the Impala
SS! Good place for the glasses there on the soft floor mat. Note the videocam taped to the crossbar.
"I'm repeating, Hot Street to the lines, I'm repeating, Hot Street to the lines! I'm repeating..."


25 PSI of blower boost while fuel pressure drops from 5 to 3.5 BAR! No good situation at all. But now
we have found a problem to solve. Video from this further below.


Surprise surprise...a 5 second car wins over a 6 second car! Zzzz... It was a 6.5 something again.
At least I nailed a 0.013 start on the Pro Tree! Yes, then you have to start before you even see
any yellow, to start with your gut feeling. And yes, video on instruments was terrific!



Another 190 miles of latent power... Time for a lot of thinking. We didn't get any good chance to continue
our testing of the transmission shifting really. Too few runs. All 6.5's, two tenths gone! The only thing we
actually learned about was of the fuel pressure drop. So in that way it was well worth the trip. But next
time I'll go to Malmö for a Wednesday "open strip" where streetracers can run as many runs they want.




Right click - Save target As...
..."Dropping Fuel Pressure", maybe?