July
3 - Preparation
the day before the race
Axel helped me in getting the Impala outside and inside TBDGIT when washing
it. Foot on the brake all
the time, no accelerator! He's now a keen car driver after years of experience
in different cars. =)
This time it was premiere in his big favourite - the Blackout SS of course.
He got a real dragracing track guiding of no one less than Björn "The
Voice" Sundqvist who happened to
pass bye in Gothenburg on a short visit! They both were so happy!
It was the last time we were solid inherents of TBDGIT so I took a picture
a little from the above. From
now on we're Hangarounds to TBDGIT since we're bringing the car home. Maybe
I can one day come
in for some brief work on the car if I ask my friends very very very politely?
=)
When the street wheels were mounted on the car it was time to drive it out
to Säve Depå. It's nice with a
local race! Luckily we got an OK to park the car there already this evening.
It was a beautiful ride in the
warm sunset!
Axel always rides with me and keeps contact with Agneta in the Dodge ahead,
with the walkie talkies
we once got from Stumpy at Santa Pod. Smart thing to have on racing trips!
Thanks again Stumpy!
Säve Depå pit. Warm evening! We took the opportunity to change
to slicks already now to save some
time in the morning hurry. But I found out that my laptop didn't got any connection
with the FAST and
TCI-boxes! Went over to Kenneth Feldthusen who had brought his race bus (as
a head quarter for the
race officials) and could work on the connector cable and found it to be broken!
OK, I think I have another cable I can bring tomorrow...
4th
of July - Raceday
07.24 Saturday Morning. Already +20° C / 68° F! Dodge was loaded with
things to make our day as
pleasant as possible. That's the way we've always wanted it. We never have
to go to stand in line for
overprized bad burgers. Both Agneta and Axel loves to build a well serving
racecamp. Me too of course.
08.13 Since it was a 1-day event we chose the small 3 x 3 meter Ez-Up tent
(USD 99.99 in Orlando) and
left our 9 x 3 meter tent at home. No tent - no relaxing. Agneta had been
picking ripe sweet cherries and
chilled them in the fridge overnight before presenting them here! Wow, that
was a real treat!
08.45. Axel wanted to do the breakfast as usual. He does it so perfectly!
Egg & bacon. Lelle Olsson
from Stockholm is the man to ask about "Strippen.nu". He brings
his timing around to the races and
was also the Race Director here and explained everything for everybody loudly
from a step ladder.
08.45. When I started to get in line for inspection the engine didn't fire
on all 8! Oh dear...what now?
Anyway, my Impala SS classified in "Extreme Street" again because
the rear end is not original...
09.43. I used my Sears thermo lasergun back in the pit when started the cooled
engine again, to find the
missing one(s). It was clearly No 5 which was cooler, not the No 8 which I
expected since that boot was
laying directly on the No 2 tube. This is what it looked like under the "heat
sleeve". The MSD silicone
boot had just melted of the heat and the cable too... Glad I always bring
materials to make a new one.
Meanwhile Agneta had the mission to fix the "new" connector cable
between the laptop and the data-
boxes for the FAST and the TCI. Happy there's a thermos with newly brewn hot
coffee on our table!
Racing had already started for racers that had their cars in order...we heard
them clearly over the sky.
Cable was now OK (we checked it) but still no connection with the boxes! What
was it!? Was there a rat
in the car who chewed cables....? Hm looked like it... Well, I had to make
a race anyway, hoped that last
year's settings would work with new bigger headers and a transmission that
should shift to 2nd gear....?
Just had to mount the blower belt and the crank support and all this...sigh!
Everybody raced already...
...and I was here first to save time!! Unbeliveable!
Suddenly Axel had a new friend to show everything for! Ferdinand became an
instant member of
Blackout Full Size racing! My work buddy Markus Frantz came by with Ferdinand
to have a look at
drag racing for the first time, even though it was "only" for streetcars.
Markus thought that the 150 SEK
entry was a good price for a grown up, with a kid for free. Now I also had
another photographer...
Säve Depå was a military air field until just recently. Now it's
owned by Gothenburg Community which
could lead to some good news for future drag racing? It's still maintained
by the flying National Guard!
On the parallel twin strip we have the civilian air traffic.
12.08. Almost everything was fixed for a first run. I asked the inspection
official Lars-Inge Johansson
(more a friend) to give me a hand on mounting the last link to the Anti Roll
Bar while me sitting in the
driver's seat. Then we fine adjusted it when car off the jacks and on the
ground. Thanks Lars-Inge!
OK, let's have a blast!!!
A lot of visitors had a lot of sun and racing!
A nice Chevelle beats a nice Charger. Pair after pair of fast cars.
1967 Camaro RS! That's me allright! Probably one of the best looking cars
ever! I had one you know.
YAHOO!!
Everything felt just terrific! Strong engine threw the three gears like nothing
and again I felt
I could do burnouts to the finishline, drift 180° and burn all they way
back. But it wasn't the mission.
The clock was now 13.57!
High expectation from the driver. Will it shift to 2nd gear this year.....?
The
start felt good, not too good though, was it spinning?? WAHOO! 2nd went in...but...not
hard, only just
like a normal automatic...over seconds....3rd was hard so it rocked the car...but
what a loooong ride!
Will I never reach the finish line...?
60-foot blabla! 1/8 mile blabla! The ever so long 1/4 mile in a mediocre 11.34
@ 204 blabla....no wonder!
Positive thinking: 2nd gear was there again.
Markus did film my only run with his new supercam and he replayed it for me
in slomo (and zoomed in!)
in the pit afterwards!! I saw my spinnings and traction problems too clearly!
Please wait until I have had
the chance to be to my work at Vingaland Film again to get time to edit it
and then publish
it here for you!
This is a downsized still
from Markus' cameras High-Definition filming of my burnout. You'll soon get
to
see both the burnout and run on a film on this site! When edited.
Markus had a new camera...what
more can I say...?
Old friend Robert "SycloneRobban"
Pothorcki is now running low 9's and high 8's in his awesome GMC
V6 turbo 4-wheel driven Syclone! He now really needs both chute and wing to
be able to take it over
the finishline - both legally and practically! He also had traction problem
this time with a "lousy" 1,61
60-foot and he "only" cut a 9,16 @ 248 kmh / 154 mph! 1/8 mile was
5,99 @ 208 kmh / 129 mph!
No other streetlegal Syclone in the world is close to it, if they ever were?
The hedgehog (hehe) in the
lower right corner is one of his mechanics, Anders "Nova" Forsberg,
another old friend to us.
When I came back from the
run and opened up the hood to cool the engine, as always, there was a fire
among the cables on the driver's side!!! I ran around like a burnt chicken
for a couple of seconds in trying
to find a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher - since the one I had was a dry
powder one - but then I finally
had to use mine and it became white all over in an instant! Lars-Inge inspected
it, cool as always.
The Fire Crew gave me tip on how to get rid of the powder in the best way:
"The powder consist of
bicarbonate so don't let it sit there, it'll get stuck, just let the engine
cool a bit, apply Yes or similar
and wash off" We did, it worked! However, I will not invest in a dry
powder fire estinguisher again...
Again No 5, do you think there's a risk for short-circuit and pre-ignition
here?
Clearly my old system doesn't
work with my new headers...and bye-bye to these poor "heat sleeves"...
The heat continued everywhere.
Axel and Agneta started the BBQ with loin of pork, ribs and spicy hot
dogs. This part of our racing is always working and everybody is happy at
the table.
This Camaro was looking good everywhere. Both under it's checkered tent and
on the strip where it
hit low 9's! I wish I had seen it with my own eyes, but I was to busy. You
miss a lot by racing yourself.
Our camp on a distance.
Thanks for that tent! Hm...are there two Impala SS?
Yes, we had our Danish
SS-friends from Copenhagen on visit! Finn and Anders!
Sorry that you missed
my only run, but it was fun to talk to you!
Finn knew me only from my website before this meeting,
and that's how he found me on his vacationing in Sweden. Thanks again internet!
Axel suddenly had another friend he could show around! Anders helped Axel
to change back to the
street wheels. They had fun too! We hope to meet you again Finn and Anders,
maybe in Copenhagen?
Even if getting help of the youngsters here, I felt very strong that a 1-day
event is too much of working
with the car and too little driving. Yes, even beside the new upcoming problems,
there's too much
work over the day with everything, so from now on, no more 1-day events. If
not trailered... =)
Now the short drive home
over the Älvsborgsbron, with yet another manufactured spark plug wire
and
new boot for No 5. I told Axel to be alert at home and jump out and rush to
our garage to get the
permanent fire extinguisher from in there, just in case it was on fire again...
And it
was! We saw it through the hood opening and we released a puff through it
as well! For the
second time in a day the Jeezus engine in Blackout had a whiteout. "Spark
Plug Boot Heat Shield
sleeves". "Guaranteed up to 1200 degrees F" ...which is 650
degrees C. Note how the wire has burnt!
I remember that late friend and engine builder Lennart "Bagarn"
Bergqvist at Autoshop said:
"I don't like these sleeves..." Well, I don't either anymore...
Now the boot burning
problem was solved with the best materials known to man! Of course it shouldn't
be needed with perfectly fitting headers, but in the middle of the season...
Next chance for a test will be at the Blackrace downtown!
