Post by Niko L on Jul 4, 2016 19:03:54 GMT
The Final event of 2015 was DRF (Drag Race Finland) Finals at Alastaro Raceway on August 25th - 27th. So Qualifying started on Friday so we had to leave already on Thursday to Alastaro.
Thursday:
We arrived to the pits before it was dark and unloaded the car from the trailer, changed its rear tires as the slicks don't fit inside trailer sides. We had to come with two cars, as Mika had to go back home for Friday so I was kind of on my own that day - though I got lots of help from other teams which was good. So after the car passed tech inspection and we pushed it to friend's tent, Mika left driving back home with the Chevy Impala.
In the night a friend arrived to the pits too with his Super Stock Duster so we helped with Mr Hassinen to put up his tent and push the car inside. After that it was a good time to go sleeping in the Chevy Van to be ready to race on the next morning.
Friday:
When I woke up on Friday morning I heard it was raining. I was happy that our car was inside the tent so it wasn't dirty because of the rain, but of course it was clear we couldn't start racing at 10 AM as originally was planned. Well when I opened the door and jumped out of the car, I found out it had been raining a lot! There was a big lake where our car was supposed to be!
Looking at the other pit area, the sight was even less pretty... The place where Jr Dragsters were was suffering from the same problem so bad that track crew had to bring a truck to "hoover" most of the water away...
When the raining stopped, I lent a brush from a friend and tried to brush the water away to be able to push our car out from the tent. Well this seemed to be an impossible idea, as whatever I did the water just came back to where it was when I started. In the end we ended up making a hole to the asphalt with a wedge and a big hammer. That helped and the water was finally gone. Now the car was pushed out and I started preparing it for Qualifying.
Track crew got the track dry sometime in the afternoon, and it was 5PM when Stock Super Stock was in the staging lanes for the first time. I can't remember for sure who was pushing my car forward when I was already strapped in to the seat belts, but thanks for that help anyway! Former Pro Stock racer Eero Knihtilä was showing me the right place to do a burnout, so big thanks to him, too! First run wasn't a major success, but .086 RT and 1.634 60FT were decent. My ET was 12.432 with 168.36 KM/H top speed, but of course the weather conditions weren't quite the best on that run either.
We were still able to run 2nd Qualifying round in the evening, my time slip says it happened at 7:28PM. Again, Eero was showing the correct place to stop for Burnout. This time I went a bit red, -.077 RT for me and a good 60FT time, too, 1.612. I ran 12.368 and 168.71 KM/H top speed.
After that round it was clear there would be no more Qualifying sessions on Friday as it was already so late. Pretty soon after this round, Mika showed up to the pits as well so we heated the grill and ate some stakes before going to sauna. I had to shoot this picture after we came out from the sauna, as the Northern Lights were seen so clearly on the sky.
Thursday:
We arrived to the pits before it was dark and unloaded the car from the trailer, changed its rear tires as the slicks don't fit inside trailer sides. We had to come with two cars, as Mika had to go back home for Friday so I was kind of on my own that day - though I got lots of help from other teams which was good. So after the car passed tech inspection and we pushed it to friend's tent, Mika left driving back home with the Chevy Impala.
In the night a friend arrived to the pits too with his Super Stock Duster so we helped with Mr Hassinen to put up his tent and push the car inside. After that it was a good time to go sleeping in the Chevy Van to be ready to race on the next morning.
Friday:
When I woke up on Friday morning I heard it was raining. I was happy that our car was inside the tent so it wasn't dirty because of the rain, but of course it was clear we couldn't start racing at 10 AM as originally was planned. Well when I opened the door and jumped out of the car, I found out it had been raining a lot! There was a big lake where our car was supposed to be!
Looking at the other pit area, the sight was even less pretty... The place where Jr Dragsters were was suffering from the same problem so bad that track crew had to bring a truck to "hoover" most of the water away...
When the raining stopped, I lent a brush from a friend and tried to brush the water away to be able to push our car out from the tent. Well this seemed to be an impossible idea, as whatever I did the water just came back to where it was when I started. In the end we ended up making a hole to the asphalt with a wedge and a big hammer. That helped and the water was finally gone. Now the car was pushed out and I started preparing it for Qualifying.
Track crew got the track dry sometime in the afternoon, and it was 5PM when Stock Super Stock was in the staging lanes for the first time. I can't remember for sure who was pushing my car forward when I was already strapped in to the seat belts, but thanks for that help anyway! Former Pro Stock racer Eero Knihtilä was showing me the right place to do a burnout, so big thanks to him, too! First run wasn't a major success, but .086 RT and 1.634 60FT were decent. My ET was 12.432 with 168.36 KM/H top speed, but of course the weather conditions weren't quite the best on that run either.
We were still able to run 2nd Qualifying round in the evening, my time slip says it happened at 7:28PM. Again, Eero was showing the correct place to stop for Burnout. This time I went a bit red, -.077 RT for me and a good 60FT time, too, 1.612. I ran 12.368 and 168.71 KM/H top speed.
After that round it was clear there would be no more Qualifying sessions on Friday as it was already so late. Pretty soon after this round, Mika showed up to the pits as well so we heated the grill and ate some stakes before going to sauna. I had to shoot this picture after we came out from the sauna, as the Northern Lights were seen so clearly on the sky.
