Post by Niko L on Jun 29, 2015 18:07:46 GMT
FHRA Drag Race Week was on June 27th-28th on Alastaro Raceway. We did no modifications to the car after that Street Slide in Hyvinkää Airport, but Mika bought some nozzles for the carburetor so we could try new setups and hopefully make it run a bit better.
Friday:
I drove to our garage where the Malibu is located straight away when I left from work. Mika had left earlier and when I got there, the Stocker was already loaded on trailer & almost ready to go.
So I parked the '60 Impala in that garage and we started heading to Alastaro. Weather and everything was fine until the sky turned dark really fast and it started raining. Hard. But luckily once we got closer to our destination, rain stopped.
First I went to Race Office to get all papers needed and after that we headed to the pits. This time we were unfortunately on different pit area than usual, but that's what happens when there's going to be lots of Pro Class cars next weekend. We unloaded the car from trailer, changed rear tires and lifted rearend on jack stands.
Then some chattin' & walkin' around and we went to sleep in the Van waiting for Qualifications to start on Saturday morning.
Saturday:
When we woke up on Saturday morning, the weather was fine and everything looked good. We filled up the air bags in rear suspension to get rear end up a bit as it was too low with empty air bags. I washed the car and tech inspection was passed. Everything was ready for Qualifying Round 1.
We were called to Line Up and first round took place at 11:07 AM and Tarmo Mikkola was driving his SS/HA '69 Camaro on other lane. I did a bit bigger burnout than usual, but nothing huge anyway. I headed to stage and immediately when I lifted RPM to Two Step Limiter, the car started crawling forward fast. It meant that I crossed starting line before the tree activated, so I got no RT, ET or Top Speed from that run. This was a big disappointment, but luckily we found out that there was a simple reason for this. We had forgot 3600 RPM in Two Step Limiter (It was used with that new A1 Converter) while 3000 RPM is absolutely the highest possible with this old Munsinger converter.
That was changed and the car was refueled for round two, but just as we were close of being called to Line Up, it started raining. It rained so long that FHRA had to cancel the Qualifying for that day. That meant that the ongoing 2nd Qualifying Round would be completed on Sunday morning before the Eliminations.
Sunday:
On Sunday morning there wasn't much to do before that first run as the car was pretty much ready. Stockers & Super Stockers were called to Line Up quite soon, but as there were some minor oil leaks from bikes, we had to wait our turn for a while. Anyway it was 11:03 AM when I ran my 2nd Qualifying Round again with Tarmo Mikkola on other lane. I did a regular burnout and this time car stayed on place easily when RPM hit the Two Step Limiter. I got my RT pretty close to perfect, but unfortunately it was a red light (-.001). Anyway I ran 12.231 & 171.28 KM/H which is not very good but not horrible either. My 60 FT was 1.619 on this run.
After this round, Qualification was over and it was time to run Eliminations.
Qualifying Results:
1. Jarmo Grönman with his C/S Chevrolet Camaro. He ran nicely as always, 10.207 that is -1.14 under NHRA 11.35 index.
2. Bo Nylund from Åland in his E/SA '72 Ford Mustang. His updates on the car worked very well so he ran 10.702 that is -0.90 under NHRA 11.70 Index.
3. Jarmo Markkanen with his EX Jim Waldo A/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.111 that is -0.83 under NHRA 10.95 Index.
4. Arto Sulopuisto with his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He had some transmission problems during qualifying, but he got them sorted out and ran 10.363 that is -0.83 under NHRA 11.20 Index.
5. Tarmo Mikkola with SS/HA '69 Chevrolet Camaro. He ran 9.991 that is -0.60 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
6. Iiro Mikkola with his F/SA Chevrolet Nova. He ran really nicely in Tierp Arena earlier this year and good numbers were seen again, 11.278 that is -0.57 under NHRA 11.85 Index.
7. Cilla Koskinen with SS/HA '67 Camaro. She ran 10.379 that is -0.22 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
8. Niko Lindström with '74 Chevrolet Malibu Classic. I wasn't very happy with the score, but luckily the car ran better than it did in Motopark. My only Qualifying Run where I got an ET was 12.231 that is -0.21 under NHRA Index.
Friday:
I drove to our garage where the Malibu is located straight away when I left from work. Mika had left earlier and when I got there, the Stocker was already loaded on trailer & almost ready to go.
So I parked the '60 Impala in that garage and we started heading to Alastaro. Weather and everything was fine until the sky turned dark really fast and it started raining. Hard. But luckily once we got closer to our destination, rain stopped.
First I went to Race Office to get all papers needed and after that we headed to the pits. This time we were unfortunately on different pit area than usual, but that's what happens when there's going to be lots of Pro Class cars next weekend. We unloaded the car from trailer, changed rear tires and lifted rearend on jack stands.
Then some chattin' & walkin' around and we went to sleep in the Van waiting for Qualifications to start on Saturday morning.
Saturday:
When we woke up on Saturday morning, the weather was fine and everything looked good. We filled up the air bags in rear suspension to get rear end up a bit as it was too low with empty air bags. I washed the car and tech inspection was passed. Everything was ready for Qualifying Round 1.
We were called to Line Up and first round took place at 11:07 AM and Tarmo Mikkola was driving his SS/HA '69 Camaro on other lane. I did a bit bigger burnout than usual, but nothing huge anyway. I headed to stage and immediately when I lifted RPM to Two Step Limiter, the car started crawling forward fast. It meant that I crossed starting line before the tree activated, so I got no RT, ET or Top Speed from that run. This was a big disappointment, but luckily we found out that there was a simple reason for this. We had forgot 3600 RPM in Two Step Limiter (It was used with that new A1 Converter) while 3000 RPM is absolutely the highest possible with this old Munsinger converter.
That was changed and the car was refueled for round two, but just as we were close of being called to Line Up, it started raining. It rained so long that FHRA had to cancel the Qualifying for that day. That meant that the ongoing 2nd Qualifying Round would be completed on Sunday morning before the Eliminations.
Sunday:
On Sunday morning there wasn't much to do before that first run as the car was pretty much ready. Stockers & Super Stockers were called to Line Up quite soon, but as there were some minor oil leaks from bikes, we had to wait our turn for a while. Anyway it was 11:03 AM when I ran my 2nd Qualifying Round again with Tarmo Mikkola on other lane. I did a regular burnout and this time car stayed on place easily when RPM hit the Two Step Limiter. I got my RT pretty close to perfect, but unfortunately it was a red light (-.001). Anyway I ran 12.231 & 171.28 KM/H which is not very good but not horrible either. My 60 FT was 1.619 on this run.
After this round, Qualification was over and it was time to run Eliminations.
Qualifying Results:
1. Jarmo Grönman with his C/S Chevrolet Camaro. He ran nicely as always, 10.207 that is -1.14 under NHRA 11.35 index.
2. Bo Nylund from Åland in his E/SA '72 Ford Mustang. His updates on the car worked very well so he ran 10.702 that is -0.90 under NHRA 11.70 Index.
3. Jarmo Markkanen with his EX Jim Waldo A/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.111 that is -0.83 under NHRA 10.95 Index.
4. Arto Sulopuisto with his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He had some transmission problems during qualifying, but he got them sorted out and ran 10.363 that is -0.83 under NHRA 11.20 Index.
5. Tarmo Mikkola with SS/HA '69 Chevrolet Camaro. He ran 9.991 that is -0.60 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
6. Iiro Mikkola with his F/SA Chevrolet Nova. He ran really nicely in Tierp Arena earlier this year and good numbers were seen again, 11.278 that is -0.57 under NHRA 11.85 Index.
7. Cilla Koskinen with SS/HA '67 Camaro. She ran 10.379 that is -0.22 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
8. Niko Lindström with '74 Chevrolet Malibu Classic. I wasn't very happy with the score, but luckily the car ran better than it did in Motopark. My only Qualifying Run where I got an ET was 12.231 that is -0.21 under NHRA Index.
