2005 Veidec Festival Pit Notes Fredag / Friday

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18:30

In Top Methanol Dragster, Yngve Solberg says he's pleased so far. A couple of runs over 300 kph and the car felt good. "If I could get a 6 second run and be in round one on Sunday the weekend will be a success!"

Gittli Koller explained that Peter Schofer's TMD lost all power when shifting to second gear. "We are making a major, major overhaul now", she said.

Krister Johansson explained that the reason for not running the second session was to find out why the car misfired on the first run. "There is no reason for it and just a chance that it might correct itself!" They found an ignition problem in the end but not what caused it.

Susanne Callin (Top Fuel) said after her chutes failing to deploy. "I braked as hard as I could and the car was still going straight, so I didn't even try to make the bend. The gravel trap slowed the car down very quickly and we only went for a few meters in the field. There is no real damage and we're really pleased with running 5.05. We'll be back tomorrow!"

Thomas Nataas (Top Fuel) said "On the first run we shook and smoked the tyres. On the second run we ran a 5.01 but the car was only really strong in the last half of the track. Our 0.93 60 foot time compares with an 0.86 at the Main Event. We will look at the tune-up together as Andy (Carter) has also had the same issue."

Micke Kågered said of his 4.944 qualifier putting him in no. 2 spot "Our weekend has been good so far and I am pleased with our last run. The car is not going as well in the last quarter of the track and there is a lack of power there. We will fix that and then look to improve." Micke said he has two backup motors, but there has been no damage so far.

In TMFC, Arvid Grodem had a frustrating time after losing reverse gear on the first run ("I was cross because I think we could have bumped the car into reverse after the burnout") and then driving through severe tyre shake on the second run. "We will deal with that by tuning the motor and clutch", said Arvid. "At least we have had no damage".

Jarmo Kuutniemi is a name unfamiliar to many but has achieved 4th place in TMFC after two rounds. "We qualified 6th at Alastaro and on the run we ran our PB speed of 382.23kph," Jarmo said. "Unfortunately our second chute didn't come out properly and we went into the gravel trap, so we're having to tear the car down an check nothing has got in anywhere." The frame and body were bought from Leif Andreasson and the motor is self-built from a TFX block and Walt Austin heads. Sponsors are jpsmotors.fi, Raision Pesuhuolto and Kendall.

Dan Larsen said after his no.1 qualifying 5.95, "I wasn't sure whether it was a good time as we had some tyre shake in 1st gear. We could have stayed longer in first gear but the acceleration was good and all looks nice."

Marc Meihuzen was delighted with his run. "This is a new personal best for me and a record for Dutch Pro Mod; the previous record was 6.60 and we ran a 6.56. We broke our last motor at the Euro Finals and this is our first time out this year. We would like to do a 40 before the end of the meeting." Mike Faucher the supplier of Marc's new engine is over to advise on tuning. Mike said I used to race Pro Mods and sold our '67 Nova to Kjell-Hå:kan Moström in Sweden" He then sold it to Patrick Wikstrom and now it is raced by Mikael Nord in Comp Eliminator this weekend. Mike said "I traded the car in for a dyno and started building racing engines. Our main sales are to doorslammer street classes using electronic fuel injection such as the Mustang 5.0 championship. Mike's view of the sport's in Europe confirms the growth that we can see here. "The growth is comparable to that in the US 5-6 years ago and can only be good for the sport in general, with the greater quantity of builders and equipment available."

Jörgen Karlsson had run a new personal best of 6.57. He said "Our car is working well and we are now making fine adjustments with the clutch. Roger (team mate Roger Johansson) has had a lot of problems with tyre shake and has run a 6.63. We're sharing data with Roger."

That's the end of the pit notes for today. Thanks to Christer Abrahamsson for pit notes from the Top Methanol Dragster and nitro bike pits. It's been a marvellous day of qualifying in all classes inevitably with Pro Modified taking precedence, the bump spot of 6.74 likely to drop even further with two more sessions tomorrow. A large number of personal bests have fallen too. See you tomorrow!

15:30

Kenneth Lorentzen was very pleased with Tommy Möller's No. 1 qualifying pass of 4.84. "The engine was clean and nice and the track is good. It's made a tremendous difference having the new five disc clutch as it gives us a much larger window for adjustment. We think we can improve on our time."

Ben Allum, crew chief for Andy Carter, said "The 5.06 time gave us a good baseline from which to work. We did no damage but now the crank has reached the end of its planned life and we are installing a new block and crank ready for eliminations. We're therefore passing up on the second qualifying session. We ran in the left lane and believe the right hand lane may not be as good." When I asked what would happen to the old block it was suggested it would be used as a wine rack...

Monica Oberg was "Quite pleased" at the 5.621 run, good for no.3 in the forst session. She said "We had some small problems with the clutch and will add some more weight next run. On the first run, some fingers locked up immediately and we believe this avoided serious damage. The motor is unharmed." Monica was only able to make the event on Wednesday following the arrival of parts from the US. "I would like to thank our main sponsors Lars Madsen Åkeri AB and BFT Bokförlgstjänst AB. A very special thanks also to all my crew: the new guys Jan and Per Lundholm, Per Larsson, Mats-Åke Skrubis and old hands Dan Söderberg and Daniel Jedborn."

Lex Joon had to abort his planned 800ft pass after 2.7 seconds after the front wheels came up again on the MPM Oils fueler. "We have put a bit more front wing in but the clutch needs to slip more with the extra power we will make next time. We were pleased with the 1/8th mile time of 3.3 though. We think we have solved the problem of the heads and gaskets by Eddie changing the tune up. We're having to get his advice over the phone as he is involved in a rally in the Isle of Man this weekend. We're looking for 4.80s." Best wishes go from Lex to "Martyns Heit en Mem".

Cliff Gould, crewing for Joran Persåker, said "We made too much power and the car smoked the tyres. We've sorted out the motor problems we experienced at the previous meetings and now just need to back it down. Bill Schultz is here from the US to advise us."

Back over in the Pro Mod pits, Jari Saarala of Saapola Racing said the 6.79 was "not what we were expecting. At the top end we ran 316kph and the revs were not high enough. We've also discovered a problem with the valve train and cylinder no. 2 on the leakdown test which means we will miss the second round. We've got enough spare parts though."

Terje Håkonsen ran a 6.79 on only his seventh or eighth full pass. Terje said "This is our third full season with the car which we have repainted. Our best so far is a 6.59, and the car feels good, without any shake. I shifted a little early into 2nd and 3rd and on a good run I expect to run a 6.4."

Jan Arve Nygård is another split window Corvette in Pro Mod (there are four altogether) and this is an imported car having been built at Wally Stroub Racecars. "Originally it had a blower motor but we've installed a 706cu in Fulton nitrous setup. After we tested in Pitea, this is our first meeting since I wrote my previous Corvette off in Norway in 2003 and it's great to be back. Our pass today was an easy 200m."

Svein Gottenberg is very pleased with his 7.00 run. "We have a new clutch setup that we wanted to try. Even though it wasn't our best time, everything worked so well that we think we are on the right way. We didn't have to do any service on the engine at all!"

13:30

Andy Robinson's no.1 qualifier is a NPB and the team are very happy. Jerry Clayton said "The tyres didn't shake and there is no damage. The half passes we made at the SPRC Summernationals helped. The track is good, but quite green at the start of pro qualifying and should improve." As to high up the learning curve the team is with the blown motor, Jerry said "Every run is a test run. We're not being flamboyant!"

Gordon Appleton said the clutch was too loose on the 6.51 and more clutch will be applied for the next run. Otherwise, it's just regular maintenance. "We're glad we made it past the first run as last year we blew our nitrous motor on the first pass and that was it. We then saw the (blower) light."

In the Pro Stock pits Jan Muren has a beautiful new Pontiac Grand Am bought from Tom Martino in the US. The car was built by Rick Jones and has a fresh Patterson motor and Liberty gearbox (standard for Pro Stock). His first run was a 7.06. Jan said "This is what we were looking for. We set the car very soft to get a decent time in case the weather spoils the Saturday qualifying. We didn't race at all last year as we wanted to get a car that has more potential." Jan said that EU rules have resulted in Pro Stock cars now being required to run lead-free fuel, a move that has resulted in much engine damage. "There isn't sufficient development funding available to convert the motors to run lead free without damage and still run good times", Jan said.

Jimmy Alund was pleased with his no.1 time of 6.96. He said, "It wasn't a perfect run but it was in the neighbourhood. The competition is tough with Hansson and Malmgren able to run 6.9s." Jimmy's Firebird is sporting a newly painted front end by Toyan of Unos Billackering, to whom Jimmy sends his thanks. He was also grateful for the whole crew and the sponsors many of whom will be attending on Saturday.

Mikael Malmgren said his run was affected by too much clutch and "some bumps in the middle of the track". He also said that a test session in Malmo resulted in the car running better than ever and has used the settings here as well.

Urban Johansson had his first run with the blower Vette. "It felt very cool, with much more power than previously. I have had to learn to use the handbrake only at the start." Urban's run netted a 200m shutoff 7.61, with much more to come.

Jari Konola, who many will remember as a former Pro Stock racer, is crew chief for Joran Persåker's Pro Stock Avenger. The car which was built by Jerry Haas, was bought from Allen Johnson racing and the motor was built by Jari. A 7.22 qualifying effort left the team looking for another couple of tenths to be competitive.

In Super Twins Greger Johansson gave some indication of the importance of lane choice for Super Twin racers. "The power tends to lead to the bike wanting to go to the right. Therefore it's much better to choose the left hand lane."

Anders "Charley" Karling said that he clicked off early on his 6.701 qualifying run. "It was my first full pass since the crash. The bike felt very stable so the old demons are totally gone."

09:30

Good morning and welcome to Friday's pit notes. It's the first day of Pro qualifying. Tog, Sharkman and I visited the Pro pits yesterday evening and the atmosphere was party-great, the music and lighting supplied by Fast Freddie.

We saw Gordon Appleton and Andy Robinson. Both were upbeat, although Gordon had something of a curved ball as crew chief Adrian Spencer couldn't make the trip at the last moment following a lost passport nightmare. Gordon said "Although we miss Adrian, we're not too despondent and will get his input by phone over the weekend. Gordon's Camaro is currently on form having run a 6.32 at the SPR Summernationals."

There is new machinery in the Pro Mod pits and the prize for the most impressive trailer is Saapola Racing, which houses the newly built '59 Chrysler 300 as well as the team's Super Comp and Junior Dragsters. We spoke to Jari Saarala, member of the crew reponsible for the computer. "We've stepped up this year thanks to the support of Tarpaulin.fi with who we have a three year sponsorship deal." The Pro Mod car driven by Seppo Saapola, was built by Mats Eriksson and full runs have yet to be made. Jari said "On the last run there were some shift problems but still ran a 6.73. The motor is a KB 526cu in with Veney heads, Waterman fuel system and Kobelco blower. The gearbox is a B&J." Crew chief for the Saapola Racing is Jussi Karhila.

Patrick Pers whose Pro Mod Corvette is now sporting blue paintwork, is upbeat. "This is the first outing of the year for us. We have the same basic setup as last year but have tried one or two new things as we want to run a 6.2. We won't say what they are until we've tried them."

In the fuel bike pits we spoke to Sverre Dahl. Sverre had a troubled time at the last race in Alastaro as he broke the sprag in the gearbox twice with a surfeit of power and went out in the first round. The bike has a homemade billet block, which has been used for the last three seasons, and fuel system (with help from Stefan Reisten). Transmission is Bentec. The team said "We have a new magneto and hope to do better this weekend as we have run 6.14."

The next bike was Peter Andersson-Ström, who qualified No. 2 in Alastaro but suffered a broken crank. He said "We have a modified stock (Yamaha) crank in the bike now." A lot of this bike is self-made - the frame, Yamaha XS1100-based billet block, fuel system and slipper clutch. Best time on the latest frame is 6.47, although Peter's old frame ran 6.47/201mph.

Eric Teboul (Top Fuel Bike) has had one of the longest trips of any racer here this weekend - 2300km from his home in Cannes. He said "this is effectively our first event this year as we had a problem with our fuel pump at the Main Event and couldn't run. We now have a good fuel pump by Waterman rated at 18 gallons per minute." The bike has Vortx heads (with modified valve seats), a self-made billet block based on a Kawasaki, B&J gearbox, ART clutch and Autorotor screw-type blower. Eric is particularly connected with the Autorotor blower as he and Brian Johnson worked together to develop it for drag racing use. "Now almost all blown fuel bikes use it", said Eric.

Eric said of his rocket bike "It is the one I prefer to work wih at the track as there are no mechanical issues. The main problem is making the hydrogen peroxide. There are no suppliers and, to make enough for one run I have do distill the fuel for two hours every night for a month, a complex process." Eric has already run world record numbers for the eighth of 3.5s at 349.91km/h and has reached 419kph at 300m (at which point the fuel runs out). "In two years or so, I want to build a larger fuel tank so I can make a full pass."

Ian King, winner of the first two Top Fuel Bike events, said "Our aim is for consistency for the championship. We have therefore changed very little and are still running with the stock head from the Main Event, which has run so well."

There are 18 Super Twin bikes here this weekend and hopes are high for an all six second field, the first time outside the US. Vincent Pels of Zodiac Racing told us that at Alastaro Ton suffered a blackened crank in the first round of racing which resulted in oil pressure of only 20psi. "We changed motor to our no. 2 one, but missed the second round by half an hour." Since then things have looked up, because with the same motor Ton ran a 4.44 at 271kph on the Drachten eighth to claim a new Dutch record. I asked Vincent what he thought of blowers (the bike is unblown) and he said "We don't want to put a vacuum cleaner on our bike and we are used to tuning with 99% nitro.