2007 FIA Main Event
Run What You Brung, Sunday 20th May


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19:45

Today's pictures have now been posted; you can view them via the Event Index page.

That's the end of our coverage of the pre-FIA Main Event Test Weekend. We will be coming back up to Santa Pod on Tuesday and will bring you news from the pits on a daily basis. See you then!

17:50

Timo Habermann made his first run of the day in the Habermann family Top Methanol Dragster, a nice pass. 1.0330 to sixty feet, 4.1790.171.21 at half track and shut off early with the chutes out before the traps, 6.8531/152.47.

Next up was Andy Carter in the Lucas Oil/Andersen Racing Top Fueller. 0.8549 to sixty feet and then shake when the rear wheels reached the sixty foot marker, Andy got off the throttle and rolled through at 10.1650/71.55.

Tommy Leindahl followed in his Pro Stock, 1.0661 to sixty feet, the car started to move around but Tommy stayed with it even though the moves got quite violent, 4.5471/155.78 at half track and 7.0412/198.00 at the stripe.

Micke Lindahl rounded off the day with a superb pass in the Kendall-backed Pro Mod, straight as you like and little if any sign of shake, 1.0380 to sixty feet, 4.1340/178.49 at the eighth and 6.3081/221.65 at the quarter.

So that's this weekend's testing done and dusted, next stop is the FIA Main Event which starts next Friday.

We are now starting work on today's pictures, stay tuned for those.

16:15

Micke Gullquist has made his third pass of the day in his Pro Mod. 1.0761 to sixty feet, the tyres were trying to break loose to begin with but then they started to shake at about 120 feet, Micke got off the throttle and rolled through, 9.4390/96.16.

Same sort of thing for Micke Lindahl in the Kendall-backed Pro Mod, 1.0472 to sixty feet but then hit shake at 150 feet, Micke had a quick go at driving through it but then got off the throttle at about 300 feet when the Camaro made a right turn. The fuel tank cap came off the car and rolled down the track to about 1000 feet, Micke got to the stripe in 8.3831/111.41.

Joe Kellett was first to the finish in his latest match-up against Zak Johnson, 8.9811/71.41 to Zak's 8.9989/72.48. Matthew Seamarks followed with a 7.9562/81.81.

Trackside conditions are 64.9 F, 49% humidity and 29.65 inches of air. The track temperature when Micke Gullquist ran was 93.1 F.

16:15

Martin Hill laid down a 6.1823/253.96 in the Fireforce 3 Jet FC, this was shut off a touch early so there's more left in that FC.

First up in the next set of Pro test runs was Roger Johansson, 1.0432 to sixty feet, a pedal at 330 feet as the car moved to the left, 4.2501/173.06 and then smoke from the engine in the last couple of hundred feet but Roger stayed with it, 6.4949/216.70.

Tommy Leindahl followed and the Camaro Pro Stock was really skating about its lane, 1.0881 to sixty feet but the car just did not want to go straight and Tommy got off the throttle, 10.0480/84.44 at the stripe.

Urban Johansson was next up, a very quick sixty foot time of 0.9843, then he tried to drive through shake, the car started moving left and right and then we saw the right side of the car from here in Race Control and Urban shut off, 7.5453 at the stripe.

We've got about another hour and a quarter left here at Santa Pod, stay tuned.

15:35

Low ET of the weekend for Dan Larsen in the Boxter Top Methanol FC. 1.0059 to sixty feet, driving through shake between 100 feet and 300 feet, bouncing a little but staying with it, 3.8811/196.37 at half track and 5.8639/248.88 at the stripe.

Mark Bishop has put in another checkout pass in the Vegas Hustler Pro ET altered, 13.0649/94.75.

On two wheels Al Young clocked 8.6149/166.67 on his Comp Bike, Sandra Chaplain in the other lane shut off after the Think Pink Comp Bike made a hard move to the left.

Zak Johnson took the latest Junior Dragster match-up with Joe Kellett, 8.9877/72.38 to 9.0923/71.06. Matt Seamarks followed on with an 8.1097/80.79 bye.

The Fireforce 3 Jet FC is in the collection area but is a while off running yet.

14:45

Micke Gullquist and Henri Joosten were the next Pro racers to appear and both improved big time. Micke clocked a 1.0589 sixty foot time, 4.1840/174.99 at half track and 6.4258/212.23 at the stripe, that will have made a great baseline pass. Henri followed with a near full pass this time, 1.1153 to sixty feet, 4.4659/165.02 at the eighth and then the chutes out at 1000 feet as the Chevy was really moving about its lane, 6.8831/203.78.

The Habermann family Comp Eliminator dragster was next up, cylinders out on both sides and shut off very early, 11.9912/66.86.

14:30

Roger Johansson made a better start in the MSS Motorsport Pro Mod this time around. 1.0258 to sixty feet, this time the tyres didn't shake but they smoked a little at about forty feet, the Mustang headed for the centre line and Roger got off the throttle at about 300 feet and idled through, 8.7308/98.05.

14:20

The afternoon session started with Andy Carter in the Lucas Oil/Andersen Racing Top Fueller, the same result as previous runs. A calmed-down sixty foot time of 0.9071 then up in smoke at eighty feet, off the throttle and idling through to 14.6442/59.05. Micke Kågered was next up in the Bahco Tools Top Fueller, 0.9118 to sixty feet the the tyres started to shake at seventy feet or so and Micke got off the throttle at a hundred feet, idling through to 9.4249/89.83.

Three Pro Mods followed on. Mats Eriksson was first, 1.0309 to sixty feet which included shake from fifty feet, Mats pedalled but eventually backed off altogether, 9.9842/95.74. Micke Lindahl was next, a nice pass this one. 1.0428 to sixty feet, 4.1978/174.42 at half track and 6.4120/218.32 at the stripe.

The third Pro Mod of this session was Urban Johansson's 'Vette, a storming sixty foot time of 1.0019, 4.0770/175.80 at half track and 6.2741/224.52 at the stripe, I guess they've got the spare engine worked out!

Tommy Leindahl again hit bad shake on his latest run in his Pro Stock, 1.1639 to sixty feet although the tyres were shaking by thirty feet, the car turned hard right and Tommy got off the throttle and straightened it out, engine off and rolling through to a 25.0949/27.20.

Sandra Chaplain's second pass of the day on her Comp Bike was an 8.4270/157.88. Joe Kellett and Zek Johnson paired up again in their Junior Modified Dragsters, Zak first to the strip in 8.9221/72.71 to Joe's 9.0461/71.06. Matthew Seamarks followed up with an 8.0689/81.53 in the Gingerman Racing JD, using his parachute on this run!

Trackside conditions are 67.5 F, 44% humidity and 29.68 inches of air. Track temperature is 100.3 F.

13:45

When I got to the track this morning I grabbed a brief word with a few teams about yesterday's progress and what they had planned for today. First up was Alan Jackson, tuner for Micke Kågered's Bahco Tools-sponsored Top Fueller. Alan said that the car kept dropping cylinders yesterday. "It's a mechanical problem which we think we have solved", he said. "On the first run it dropped cylinder 6, we cured that, then it dropped cylinder 5. We couldn't get any heat in it, we think it was a camshaft which is now done. The second run was meant to be a half pass but the blower belt broke". Alan said that the car is now using the electronic timers which were legalised in the FIA Championships this season. "They worked well when we used them on Harlan Thompson's car and on Patrik Pers' Funny Car at Easter", said Alan. The car is reacting faster now, it's to do with the way the fuel enters the engine and we appear to have sped it up a lot which will help Micke's reaction times."

Pro Stock racer Tommy Leidahl was very pleased with his new personal best of 6.94 yestetday. "It was a bit windy and I have a much bigger body compared to the competition", he said. "We've got more power now so we should get 200 mph. It's been a bit tricky to get off the line, we are off our best sixty foot by two or three hundredths and there isn't much of a window in the clutch to take power out, but we're picking up speed further down. Today we will be trying a new clutch combination and some new parts."

Henri Joosten said that the plan for his Pro Mod this weekend is to make half passes. "Our incremental times yesterday were very close to what we have been doing before", he said.

Roger Johansson said that he was very pleased with yesterday's 6.402. "We've decided that we don't want any tyre shake this year!", he joked. "The test runs so far have been very good. We have changed the chassis set-up for this year. On the 6.4 yesterday the datalogger says that I shut off at 5.9 seconds so I hope we can run a little quicker today."

Andy Carter said that he was enjoying his new Top Fuel team. "I feel really comfortable, and I am enjoying my racing more than I have done in a couple of years", he said. "It's a fantastic team. We showed yesterday that it is worthwhile to test - that could have been two runs we lost at the Main Event and we would not have been qualified at this point. I would like to say thanks to Lucas Oil and all of my associate sponsors."

13:20

Mark Bishop's first pass of the day in his Vegas Hustler Pro ET altered was a 13.9650/70.20, a nice straight checkout pass looking and sounding good.

Dan Larsen was next up in the Boxter Top Methanol FC, the pass started out well, 0.9990 to sixty feet, the car was moving around the lane a little but then got a bit of a bounce on and the blower belt departed tha car at half track (3.8319/194.64), 6.1372/180.60 at the stripe.

We then had some more Pro Mod action, first up was Roger Johansson with what looked and sounded like a conservative set-up in the Mustang, 1.0661 to sixty feet, 4.3411/165.42 at half track and 6.6900/206.43 at the finish line. Mats Eriksson followed on, 1.0483 to sixty feet but the Mustang hit shake at thirty feet, Mats got off the throttle at sixty feet, 14.4923/69.11 at the stripe. Henri Joosten was the last Pro Mod before lunch, 1.1288 to sixty feet, the tyres started to shake at about forty feet and the Chevy turned to the right and then the right side door came off one of its hinges and hung off the car. Henri stoeed at about 900 feet.

The last pair of racers before lunch were Paul Marston in the Whoopass Pro ET Monza which made a hard move to the right off the line, Paul pedalled and then got back on the throttle, 10.1599/136.69. Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay followed up with a 14.2992/95.31 in his Sportsman ET pick-up.

We're now on hold for lunch, during the lunch break I will type up the few pit notes I picked up before we started this morning, then we are scheduled to resume with Andy Carter and Micke Kågered. Stay tuned.

12:20

Lance Richards' second run of the day in his Pro ET Carpri was a 9.7574/141.34. Sportsman ET racer Nick Gay has made his first run of the day in his Metro pick-up and that was 14.5434/94.66.

Next up was Micke Gullquist in his Chevy Pro Mod, Micke hit bad shake about ten feet out, pedalled it at about sixty feet (1.0901) and got on and off the throttle before shutting off, 9.7633/102.26.

Timo Habermann followed in the family's Comp Eliminator dragster, a couple of cylinders out, 9.8351/96.75.

Urban Johansson followed on with the spare engine in the Pro Mod 'Vette, a nice pass, 1.0972 to sixty feet, 4.2228/175.81 at the eighth, 6.4461/216.47 at the stripe.

A couple of minutes later the Lindahl brothers' Pro Mod Camaro appeared round the corner, a nice burnout by Micke and then 1.0009 to sixty feet, shake at about 100 feet and Micke got off the throttle at 200 feet, 9.9329/83.83.

On to two wheels and Stefan Iwanowitsch's first run of the day on his Supertwin was an 8.5039/150.94, that was with a feather of the throttle off the line so there is more to come from the big Harley.

Still on two wheels, Sandra Chaplain laid down a 9.0569/141.50 in the first run of the day on her Comp Bike. In the other lane Alan Young clocked 8.6549/165.42 on his Comp Bike.

Finally for this update, Zak Johnson and Joe Kellett paired up in their Junior Dragsters, 9.0228/71.90 for Zak to Joe's 8.9841/71.44 red light. Matthew Seamarks followed up with an 8.0061/81.68 in his Junior Modified Dragster.

Trackside conditions are 64.6 F, 44% humidity and 29.65 inches of air. Track temperature is 103,3 F.

11:05

Micke Kågered got to 200 feet in the Bahco Tools Top Fueller and then the rear tyres went up in smoke - it was a very clean run up to that point though. Micke's sixty foot time was 0.9040, the chutes were out at half track and at the stripe it was 9.7232/64.44.

Matthew Seamarks was the next racer to run, 8.0140/81.23 in the Gingerman Racing Junior Dragster.

10:35

Lance Richards has made his first run of the day in his Pro ET Capri, 9.5643/140.57, that was a deceptively quick pass since the car seemed to leave the line quite gently, I guess I was wrong about that!

Next up was Roger Johansson in his Mustang Pro Mod, Roger hit appalling shake at the hit and was off the throttle at sixty feet (1.1479), idling through to 15.3838/54.87.

Zak Johnson followed up in his Junior Dragster, 9.1140/72.10, Joe Kellett followed on in his own JMD and clocked 9.0009/71.41.

Micke Kågered is in the pairing lanes with the Bahco Tools Top Fueller, stay tuned.

Trackside conditions are 64.4 F, 44% humidity and 29.65 inches of air, track temperature on the start line is 80.0 F.

10:20

The first racer out this morning was Matthew Seamarks in the Gingerman Racign Junior Dragster, a nicely-judged 7.9811/81.38.

Next up was Tommy Leindahl in his Pro Stock and I would imagine that as I type he is nursing a spectacular headache, the Camaro hit terrible shake at the hit and turned hard right. For a moment I wondered whether Tommy had had his bell seriously rung since the car was going straight for the concrete but he pulled it straight right at the last moment...Roger at trackside got a good close look at the car, though. It doesn't really matter but at the stripe it was 23.1801/30.74.

Henri Joosten followed with a planned half pass in his Pro Mod. 1.1332 to sixty feet, 4.6661/167.30 at half track and then the chutes out just past the half-track lights, 7.6013/122.52.

The Top Fueller in the pairing lanes turned out to be Andy Carter in the Lucas Oil/Andersen Racing car. Another storming sixty foot time, 0.8318 and Andy got a little further today before the tyres went up in smoke, this time the hourglass tyre marks started at sixty feet. As with yesterday Andy was off the throttle instantly when things went pear-shaped, idling through to an 11.8619/67.06. Per Andersen took a long look at the tyre marks before going back to the pits.

10:00

Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Racewat for our coverage of the pre-FIA Main Event Test Weekend brought to you in association with American Car Imports.

The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every sixty seconds. You can access the webcam via the Event Index page.

The weather station got it right, it's a very nice day here and the stiff headwind has gone, in fact there is hardly a breeze here. We have sun and some cloud, seems like ideal conditions to me. Trackside it's 62.2 F, 48% humidity and air pressure is 29.65 inches. We'll bring you the track temperature very soon.

We have a number of racers still with us from yesterday, we had a brief turn around the pits earlier and everyone to whom we spoke said that they plan to run today. From my perch in Race Control I can see Tommy Leindahl's Pro Stock and the word on the track radio is that a Top Fuel Dragster is on its way down. Both the Lucas Oil/Andersen Racing and Bahco Tools teams warmed up about an hour ago so it could be either - stay tuned and as soon as the racers start to appear we'll bring you all the news.


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