Post by Niko L on Jul 11, 2016 19:11:54 GMT
As some of you might have noticed, the 2016 season has been a bit easier as far as the racing goes. Basically no modifications were done to the car during the winter, and before this West Coast Street Cup race, two Finnish Championship races were driven already. Anyway this WCSC race at Pori Airport was the first one for us in 2016, as I spent first six months of 2016 in Finnish Army and because of that we were unable to race.
Anyway we thought we'd come here to the Pori Airport to have some fun and to get rid of old rear tires. West Coast Street Cup races are one day events with Qualifying and Eliminations on airports in the West Coast. The asphalt is prepped to 1/8th mile mark, but the race is driven normally on 1/4 mile. The races are mostly for Street Cars but you can run with basically anything in ET Bracket, and there you can see many Race Cars as well.
Friday:
On Friday we loaded the car on trailer and drove to Pori. While we sold our Chevy Van that was used to haul the Stocker into these races, this time we lent a VW Van from my dad's workplace. We headed to our relatives' place as they live really close to the airport. There we could have a good night sleep but still get early enough to the pits to do tech inspection etc before racing starts.
Saturday:
On Saturday morning we arrived to the pits, unloaded the car from the trailer and installed slicks to the back. They don't fit inside our trailer so during the trip from our garage to the pits our car had winter tires of my Chevy S10 on the back. I went to the "Race Office" and got all needed papers etc. Then a tech inspector arrived to our place and he went through the car. Nothing was wrong so we were ready to race. Just a fast warmup before drivers' meeting at starting line was done, and after the meeting we headed straight to the staging lanes waiting for my first Qualifying Run.
My first Qualifying run was at 12:14PM. As the tires had sat through the winter, I thought I'd warm them up properly. I started the burnout normally with 2nd gear and then shifted to 3rd, and when I lifted the brakes I didn't want to stop immediately so I ended up doing a long burnout over the starting line. The car started sliding a little so I had to lift the throttle right after I passed the starting line. Then I just reversed back and staged normally. On this first run I got a horrible reaction time, .218 but it happens after the long winter. My 60 FT was decent and the car ran really nicely, 12.233 ET with 173.01 KM/H top speed. Those are good numbers, considering that it's really close to what I ran last year (Needless to say, J/SA car should run a lot faster than that, but we're working on it as they say ).
After that run I headed straight back to the staging lanes as there were lots of cars before me so the engine had enough time to cool down while waiting for my turn. I did a lot easier burnout on this run as otherwise "The tires would be destroyed before the final round" as Mika said. On this run I got a pretty good RT, .081 and my 60 FT time was just about same as on the first run. A bit of improvement was seen on the ET, I ran 12.212 with 173.87 KM/H top speed. A friend ran with a '76 Camaro on the other lane, he did 177 KM/H top speed but had major traction problems at the start, which resulted ET of only 12.750. (Later on he did a lot better as well)
After this run I headed back to the pits to let the engine cool down a bit and to recharge our battery. We had plans to do 3rd Qualifying Run too, so the break couldn't be too long at this point.
3rd Qualifying Round was driven at 1:57PM and this time I improved my RT a little again, it being .068 this time. My 60 FT remained the same but I improved my ET and ran 12.179 with 173.57 KM/H top speed. That was a great run, faster than I did in 2015! After this round it was time to get ready for the Elimination Rounds.
Eliminations:
Soon after my 3rd run the staging lanes were closed and officials started to work on Elimination Ladders. In our class, ET Bracket the Qualifying order was made by the reaction times and then Eliminations were regular Bracket. Soon the officials came to ask what dial in you want for the Eliminator (In WCSC you can't change it between Elimination rounds). I chose 12.19 for me.
I ended up the 5th in Qualifying! That's a lot better I thought earlier, as we had a full 16 car ladder in ET Bracket.
First Elimination Round was driven against Tommi Vuorinen in his '67 Chevy Camaro. I had 12.19 dial in and Tommi had 9.95 so I got a big headstart on this one. I knew it would be a tough race as I've seen Tommi doing a good job on Eliminations before. I left with a really good .022 RT and ran full throttle until the end. I saw the Camaro overtaking me slightly before the finishing line so I thought I lost or then he broke out or something like that. In the pits Mika brought me the time slip and I found out I had won that race! I ran 12.193 with 12.19 dial in! My opponent took a little -.031 red ligth so that was it. He ran close to his dial in, though, 10.019 with 9.95 dial in.
Anyway, I started preparing myself for the 2nd round. This time it was Mikko Ruusunen against me in his '81 Chevy El Camino. This was going to be another tight race as I knew Mikko is a good driver too. He had 11.90 dial in so I'd be the first guy to leave the starting line again. This was a very tight race. We both took exactly the same RT, .084 and were running really close to each other in the top end. We were on the finishing line pretty much at the same time, but Mikko broke out running 11.802 on 11.90 dial in. Which means that I won by running 12.204 with 12.19 dial in!
Next round was already the Semi Finals and this time my opponent was Jarno Salonen in his '69 Chevelle. He has won many FHRA races too so this might be the toughest race so far this weekend? Jarno's dial in was 10.95 so I'd have a bit over one second headstart. I left with .095 RT and ran full throttle until the end. Jarno crossed the finishing line just a bit before I did so I thought he continued to the finals. When I drove back to the pits I was proven I was wrong, as one of the organizers showed a thumbs up on my way back and then I saw Mika jumping at the end of the returnway. Jarno took a minimal -.022 red light so I won. He ran 11.026 with 10.95 dial in so a good race otherwise! I broke out a little, 12.176 with 12.19 dial in, but it didn't matter at this point as I already won at the tree.
Final round came pretty soon after the Semi Finals, this time I was running against Pasi Järvistö in his '65 Chevy II. He had a dial in of 9.35 so I'd be already far away when his green light would turn on. This was also the first Final Round for me ever, so it was an exciting run in every way. I took a .081 RT on this run and hammered the throttle as much as I could. We were on the finishing line exactly the same time, so it was impossible to tell who had won or lost before I saw Mika jumping like a crazy.... I had won the whole race !!! Pasi had taken a little -.032 red light at the start. He ran 9.511 on 9.35 dial in as I ran 12.212 with my 12.19 dial in.
Needless to say, it was an amazing feeling when I realized that I won the whole race... There was no way I would have thought of that before the event! Of course every race can be won, but I didn't think it would happen to me yet.
So after the Finals were driven, we headed to the Prize Ceremony where the trophies were given.
Here is the ET Bracket Top 3 (From left to right, 2. P. Järvistö, 3. J. Salonen, 1. N. Lindström)
Then it was time to put the car back on trailer, head back to our relatives' to eat before going back home.
Here's a link to all pictures from this event: Full Picture Gallery
And a couple of videos:
We'll be driving a couple of FHRA Events in 2016 and then at least another WCSC race at Pori. We're trying to make it to the WCSC Finals in Kalajoki too, but that's unconfirmed yet... Stay tuned!
Anyway we thought we'd come here to the Pori Airport to have some fun and to get rid of old rear tires. West Coast Street Cup races are one day events with Qualifying and Eliminations on airports in the West Coast. The asphalt is prepped to 1/8th mile mark, but the race is driven normally on 1/4 mile. The races are mostly for Street Cars but you can run with basically anything in ET Bracket, and there you can see many Race Cars as well.
Friday:
On Friday we loaded the car on trailer and drove to Pori. While we sold our Chevy Van that was used to haul the Stocker into these races, this time we lent a VW Van from my dad's workplace. We headed to our relatives' place as they live really close to the airport. There we could have a good night sleep but still get early enough to the pits to do tech inspection etc before racing starts.
Saturday:
On Saturday morning we arrived to the pits, unloaded the car from the trailer and installed slicks to the back. They don't fit inside our trailer so during the trip from our garage to the pits our car had winter tires of my Chevy S10 on the back. I went to the "Race Office" and got all needed papers etc. Then a tech inspector arrived to our place and he went through the car. Nothing was wrong so we were ready to race. Just a fast warmup before drivers' meeting at starting line was done, and after the meeting we headed straight to the staging lanes waiting for my first Qualifying Run.
My first Qualifying run was at 12:14PM. As the tires had sat through the winter, I thought I'd warm them up properly. I started the burnout normally with 2nd gear and then shifted to 3rd, and when I lifted the brakes I didn't want to stop immediately so I ended up doing a long burnout over the starting line. The car started sliding a little so I had to lift the throttle right after I passed the starting line. Then I just reversed back and staged normally. On this first run I got a horrible reaction time, .218 but it happens after the long winter. My 60 FT was decent and the car ran really nicely, 12.233 ET with 173.01 KM/H top speed. Those are good numbers, considering that it's really close to what I ran last year (Needless to say, J/SA car should run a lot faster than that, but we're working on it as they say ).
After that run I headed straight back to the staging lanes as there were lots of cars before me so the engine had enough time to cool down while waiting for my turn. I did a lot easier burnout on this run as otherwise "The tires would be destroyed before the final round" as Mika said. On this run I got a pretty good RT, .081 and my 60 FT time was just about same as on the first run. A bit of improvement was seen on the ET, I ran 12.212 with 173.87 KM/H top speed. A friend ran with a '76 Camaro on the other lane, he did 177 KM/H top speed but had major traction problems at the start, which resulted ET of only 12.750. (Later on he did a lot better as well)
After this run I headed back to the pits to let the engine cool down a bit and to recharge our battery. We had plans to do 3rd Qualifying Run too, so the break couldn't be too long at this point.
3rd Qualifying Round was driven at 1:57PM and this time I improved my RT a little again, it being .068 this time. My 60 FT remained the same but I improved my ET and ran 12.179 with 173.57 KM/H top speed. That was a great run, faster than I did in 2015! After this round it was time to get ready for the Elimination Rounds.
Eliminations:
Soon after my 3rd run the staging lanes were closed and officials started to work on Elimination Ladders. In our class, ET Bracket the Qualifying order was made by the reaction times and then Eliminations were regular Bracket. Soon the officials came to ask what dial in you want for the Eliminator (In WCSC you can't change it between Elimination rounds). I chose 12.19 for me.
I ended up the 5th in Qualifying! That's a lot better I thought earlier, as we had a full 16 car ladder in ET Bracket.
First Elimination Round was driven against Tommi Vuorinen in his '67 Chevy Camaro. I had 12.19 dial in and Tommi had 9.95 so I got a big headstart on this one. I knew it would be a tough race as I've seen Tommi doing a good job on Eliminations before. I left with a really good .022 RT and ran full throttle until the end. I saw the Camaro overtaking me slightly before the finishing line so I thought I lost or then he broke out or something like that. In the pits Mika brought me the time slip and I found out I had won that race! I ran 12.193 with 12.19 dial in! My opponent took a little -.031 red ligth so that was it. He ran close to his dial in, though, 10.019 with 9.95 dial in.
Anyway, I started preparing myself for the 2nd round. This time it was Mikko Ruusunen against me in his '81 Chevy El Camino. This was going to be another tight race as I knew Mikko is a good driver too. He had 11.90 dial in so I'd be the first guy to leave the starting line again. This was a very tight race. We both took exactly the same RT, .084 and were running really close to each other in the top end. We were on the finishing line pretty much at the same time, but Mikko broke out running 11.802 on 11.90 dial in. Which means that I won by running 12.204 with 12.19 dial in!
Next round was already the Semi Finals and this time my opponent was Jarno Salonen in his '69 Chevelle. He has won many FHRA races too so this might be the toughest race so far this weekend? Jarno's dial in was 10.95 so I'd have a bit over one second headstart. I left with .095 RT and ran full throttle until the end. Jarno crossed the finishing line just a bit before I did so I thought he continued to the finals. When I drove back to the pits I was proven I was wrong, as one of the organizers showed a thumbs up on my way back and then I saw Mika jumping at the end of the returnway. Jarno took a minimal -.022 red light so I won. He ran 11.026 with 10.95 dial in so a good race otherwise! I broke out a little, 12.176 with 12.19 dial in, but it didn't matter at this point as I already won at the tree.
Final round came pretty soon after the Semi Finals, this time I was running against Pasi Järvistö in his '65 Chevy II. He had a dial in of 9.35 so I'd be already far away when his green light would turn on. This was also the first Final Round for me ever, so it was an exciting run in every way. I took a .081 RT on this run and hammered the throttle as much as I could. We were on the finishing line exactly the same time, so it was impossible to tell who had won or lost before I saw Mika jumping like a crazy.... I had won the whole race !!! Pasi had taken a little -.032 red light at the start. He ran 9.511 on 9.35 dial in as I ran 12.212 with my 12.19 dial in.
Needless to say, it was an amazing feeling when I realized that I won the whole race... There was no way I would have thought of that before the event! Of course every race can be won, but I didn't think it would happen to me yet.
So after the Finals were driven, we headed to the Prize Ceremony where the trophies were given.
Here is the ET Bracket Top 3 (From left to right, 2. P. Järvistö, 3. J. Salonen, 1. N. Lindström)
Then it was time to put the car back on trailer, head back to our relatives' to eat before going back home.
Here's a link to all pictures from this event: Full Picture Gallery
And a couple of videos:
We'll be driving a couple of FHRA Events in 2016 and then at least another WCSC race at Pori. We're trying to make it to the WCSC Finals in Kalajoki too, but that's unconfirmed yet... Stay tuned!