Post by Niko L on Jul 23, 2015 18:03:40 GMT
FHRA Nitro Nationals was just a week after the Drag Race Week on Alastaro Raceway. It was going to be Sportsman Qualifying on Thursday, Sportsman Qualifying & Eliminations & Pro Qualifying on Friday and Saturday and then rest of the Eliminations on Sunday. Our Eliminations started luckily on Sunday so there was plenty of time to run Qualifying runs for us.
Wednesday:
I wanted to go to the pits already on Wednesday evening as then I would be able to do the paperwork in Race Office. Without any papers from the Race Office, it's tricky to get into the pits on Thursday early in the morning...We tried just that last year... Anyway, Mika could not make it to Alastaro before Thursday morning, so I drove myself to the pits with the '60 Impala.
Here I'll say another Thank You to Timo Eronen who let me use his grill to warm up my sausages and Arto Sulopuisto as I could sleep in his bus. My original plan was to sleep on Impala's bench seat, but of course I decided to go in warm and comfortable bus instead when there's the opportunity.
Thursday:
Soon after I woke up after a good night sleep, Mika called that he's coming closer to the track so that I know when to bring the Car Pass to him. When he got himself and a Van and a trailer to the pits, we jacked the car down from jack stands and headed to tech inspection. It was passed easily and after that we were ready to race. The weather was also very warm and sunny so no fear of the rain this time!
Before the first round we did small modifications to the carburetor to see how it would run this time. First round was at 10:59 AM and I was running against Iiro Mikkola in his Chevy Nova. After a light burnout, I got sleepy at the tree (.225 RT). 60 FT Time wasn't the best 1.659 either, but I ran 12.222 & 172.73 KM/H. Definitely not the best run, but not the worst possible either.
A Bit smaller carburetor nozzles were changed for round two. That round took place at 12:47 PM. I got a minor red light here, -.026, and 60 FT was very close to the one I got on round 1 (1.653). I ran 12.207 & 172.82 KM/H so we were moving to the correct direction.
Before the third round, we changed carburetor nozzles again, and now we installed yet smaller ones. When I fired up the car in Line Up, I was wondering why it sounded much louder than usual. After burnout the reason was clear, Mika had forgot to close co-driver's door completely and now it was partly open. Luckily he noticed it at the same time as I did and closed it before I headed to stage. Now I got a decent RT, .055 but 60 FT time was a bit worse, 1.669. My ET and top speed were slower as well 12.255 & 172.02 KM/H, so maybe the nozzles were already too small.
The fourth round was at 4:00 PM. A bit richer carburetor secondary metering rods were installed on place to see if it would run better with this setup. I got -.082 red light here but as weather conditions had gone worse during the day, the Malibu didn't break records here. My 60 FT was 1.670 and ET was 12.312 with 172.08 KM/H Top Speed.
The fifth and last Qualifying Round for Thursday happened at 5:37 PM. We swapped another new set of Secondary Metering Rods to the Rochester. It ran a bit better, 12.278 & 171.08 KM/H. My RT and 60 FT times were better than on other runs, though (.022 RT & 1.646 60 FT).
After this run we took out my grill and grilled some food. After hanging around and going to Sauna, it was time to go to sleep to be ready to race on Friday Morning.
Friday:
On Friday morning it was very warm and sunny as well. The weather forecast said that it should be even hotter than it was on Thursday... And it was true, temperature meter said it's 34 Celsius Degrees during the day. Pro Qualifying sessions caused that our first round took place a bit later during the day. My RT was .047 but the car ran only 12.305 with 171.06 KM/H.
After the 2nd Pro Round it was time for some Sportsman Eliminations. So that 6th round was the last one for us on Friday. After that day was over, we headed to Pori Cruising with the Impala.: tapahtumakuvia.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2015/Cruisings/Pori/Friday+Night+Drive+By+3.7.2015/
Saturday:
Saturday was another fine day. We arrived to the pits in the morning and were ready for the first round. S/SS couldn't make it to the track before the first Pro Round. After that, before the second Pro Round, we were called to Line Up. I was already sitting in the car when a motorbike laid some oil on the track. Cleanup took so much time (as there was pretty much oil) that we couldn't race before the 2nd Pro Round either. After that it was time to do some more Sportsman Eliminations, so no Qualifying Rounds for us at all on Saturday.
Then it was time to fire up the grill again!
Qualifying Results:
1. Jarmo Grönman in his C/S Chevrolet Camaro. He did great job as always running 10.226 that is -1.12 under NHRA 11.35 Index.
2. Arto Sulopuisto in his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.326 that is -0.87 under NHRA 11.20 Index.
3. Jarmo Markkanen was the third Fuel Injection GM F-Body running his A/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.106 that is -0.84 under NHRA 10.95 Index.
4. Tarmo Mikkola with his SS/HA '69 Camaro. He did great wheelstands as usual, and ran 9.912 that is -0.68 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
5. Iiro Mikkola with his F/SA Chevrolet Nova. He ran 11.213 which is -0.63 under NHRA 11.85 Index.
6. Cilla Koskinen with SS/HA '67 Camaro. She wheelstanded 10.319 that is -0.28 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
7. Niko Lindström with J/SA '74 Malibu Classic. I ran 12.207 that is -0.24 under NHRA 12.45 Index.
8. Timo Eronen with SS/DA Dodge Challenger. This is basically a Stock Eliminator car with some Super Stock upgrades and a Super Stock Hemi. He had lots of minor problems during qualifying just like new cars usually have. Despite that, he ran 10.229 that is 0.02 over NHRA 10.20 Index.
Wednesday:
I wanted to go to the pits already on Wednesday evening as then I would be able to do the paperwork in Race Office. Without any papers from the Race Office, it's tricky to get into the pits on Thursday early in the morning...We tried just that last year... Anyway, Mika could not make it to Alastaro before Thursday morning, so I drove myself to the pits with the '60 Impala.
Here I'll say another Thank You to Timo Eronen who let me use his grill to warm up my sausages and Arto Sulopuisto as I could sleep in his bus. My original plan was to sleep on Impala's bench seat, but of course I decided to go in warm and comfortable bus instead when there's the opportunity.
Thursday:
Soon after I woke up after a good night sleep, Mika called that he's coming closer to the track so that I know when to bring the Car Pass to him. When he got himself and a Van and a trailer to the pits, we jacked the car down from jack stands and headed to tech inspection. It was passed easily and after that we were ready to race. The weather was also very warm and sunny so no fear of the rain this time!
Before the first round we did small modifications to the carburetor to see how it would run this time. First round was at 10:59 AM and I was running against Iiro Mikkola in his Chevy Nova. After a light burnout, I got sleepy at the tree (.225 RT). 60 FT Time wasn't the best 1.659 either, but I ran 12.222 & 172.73 KM/H. Definitely not the best run, but not the worst possible either.
A Bit smaller carburetor nozzles were changed for round two. That round took place at 12:47 PM. I got a minor red light here, -.026, and 60 FT was very close to the one I got on round 1 (1.653). I ran 12.207 & 172.82 KM/H so we were moving to the correct direction.
Before the third round, we changed carburetor nozzles again, and now we installed yet smaller ones. When I fired up the car in Line Up, I was wondering why it sounded much louder than usual. After burnout the reason was clear, Mika had forgot to close co-driver's door completely and now it was partly open. Luckily he noticed it at the same time as I did and closed it before I headed to stage. Now I got a decent RT, .055 but 60 FT time was a bit worse, 1.669. My ET and top speed were slower as well 12.255 & 172.02 KM/H, so maybe the nozzles were already too small.
The fourth round was at 4:00 PM. A bit richer carburetor secondary metering rods were installed on place to see if it would run better with this setup. I got -.082 red light here but as weather conditions had gone worse during the day, the Malibu didn't break records here. My 60 FT was 1.670 and ET was 12.312 with 172.08 KM/H Top Speed.
The fifth and last Qualifying Round for Thursday happened at 5:37 PM. We swapped another new set of Secondary Metering Rods to the Rochester. It ran a bit better, 12.278 & 171.08 KM/H. My RT and 60 FT times were better than on other runs, though (.022 RT & 1.646 60 FT).
After this run we took out my grill and grilled some food. After hanging around and going to Sauna, it was time to go to sleep to be ready to race on Friday Morning.
Friday:
On Friday morning it was very warm and sunny as well. The weather forecast said that it should be even hotter than it was on Thursday... And it was true, temperature meter said it's 34 Celsius Degrees during the day. Pro Qualifying sessions caused that our first round took place a bit later during the day. My RT was .047 but the car ran only 12.305 with 171.06 KM/H.
After the 2nd Pro Round it was time for some Sportsman Eliminations. So that 6th round was the last one for us on Friday. After that day was over, we headed to Pori Cruising with the Impala.: tapahtumakuvia.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2015/Cruisings/Pori/Friday+Night+Drive+By+3.7.2015/
Saturday:
Saturday was another fine day. We arrived to the pits in the morning and were ready for the first round. S/SS couldn't make it to the track before the first Pro Round. After that, before the second Pro Round, we were called to Line Up. I was already sitting in the car when a motorbike laid some oil on the track. Cleanup took so much time (as there was pretty much oil) that we couldn't race before the 2nd Pro Round either. After that it was time to do some more Sportsman Eliminations, so no Qualifying Rounds for us at all on Saturday.
Then it was time to fire up the grill again!
Qualifying Results:
1. Jarmo Grönman in his C/S Chevrolet Camaro. He did great job as always running 10.226 that is -1.12 under NHRA 11.35 Index.
2. Arto Sulopuisto in his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.326 that is -0.87 under NHRA 11.20 Index.
3. Jarmo Markkanen was the third Fuel Injection GM F-Body running his A/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 10.106 that is -0.84 under NHRA 10.95 Index.
4. Tarmo Mikkola with his SS/HA '69 Camaro. He did great wheelstands as usual, and ran 9.912 that is -0.68 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
5. Iiro Mikkola with his F/SA Chevrolet Nova. He ran 11.213 which is -0.63 under NHRA 11.85 Index.
6. Cilla Koskinen with SS/HA '67 Camaro. She wheelstanded 10.319 that is -0.28 under NHRA 10.60 Index.
7. Niko Lindström with J/SA '74 Malibu Classic. I ran 12.207 that is -0.24 under NHRA 12.45 Index.
8. Timo Eronen with SS/DA Dodge Challenger. This is basically a Stock Eliminator car with some Super Stock upgrades and a Super Stock Hemi. He had lots of minor problems during qualifying just like new cars usually have. Despite that, he ran 10.229 that is 0.02 over NHRA 10.20 Index.
