FHRA Spring Nationals 2017

[Niko L]

The winter was really busy so I haven't had much time to write anything in here... Anyway, a lot happened during the winter. I spent the winter working on my Street Car project '62 Chevy II 2 Door Sedan that might be seen at the strip when it's done too... In addition we took the engine out from Malibu's engine bay and it was freshened up. The biggest project was building the new race car hauler, '97 Volvo B10 bus. The seller built the rear end for it where the car goes in, but we did pretty much everything else. It's not quite done yet, but it's better than any of the haulers we used before.


FHRA Spring Nats was organized at Motopark Raceway in May. Friday was Test & Tune day as usual, Saturday for Qualifying and Sunday for Eliminations. It was interesting to see how the car would perform as we had no time to go to dyno or anything with that engine.

Thursday:

On Thursday morning we went to the garage trying to get the bus done. I think it was about 11PM on Thursday when the bus was "done", Malibu was inside and we were ready to start driving towards Motopark. We had a bunch of problems while loading the car inside, but they will have to be fixed soon...




The trip went really well, the bus worked great. It was something around 2:30AM when we arrived to the pits. We just parked the bus and went sleeping right away. The plan was to take the car out and do everything else in the morning.




Friday:

Friday was Test & Tune day, which meant that you could run pretty much anything at the track and do some test runs. We were going to run a couple of runs a bit easier to break in our newly freshened engine before going full throttle. While looking around at the pits I saw that there were five new drivers for Stock/Super Stock classes who were going to do their license runs during the Friday! That was great, good to see some new cars and drivers in our class!


After warming up the engine and tranny we checked the level of transmission fluid and then headed to line up for the first run. I did a small burnout and didn't rew the engine that much. I left easy at the starting line, shifted at 6000 and lifted the throttle before finishing line as I didn't want to raise the RPMs above 6000. So my ET was 13.656 & 119.21 KM/H.


Next we adjusted valves and then went back for another easy run. This was pretty much similar run compared with the first, my 60FT was a bit faster but not much, and near the finishing line I kept the RPMs on 6000 instead of getting of the throttle completely. Now the car ran 13.156 & 143.42 KM/H.

After some time we went back to the staging lanes to do the third run full throttle. After waiting for a while in the line up, Mika noticed that our engine was leaking a bit of oil. So unfortunately we had to do an U-Turn and head back to the pits to fix that problem. It looked like it was oil pan gasket that was leaking, so we cleaned that up and covered the seam with lots of silicone. Of course it had to be left drying for a few hours so we couldn't do our full throttle run right away...




It was something like 5PM when we thought we'd go try the full throttle run again as the silicone was mostly dry. This time we made it to the Strip and after a normal burnout I hammered the throttle at the starting line. But something was wrong, the car just didn't go anywhere. When I drove back to the pits I had to stop as the car didn't want to move anymore. It was clear that something was wrong with my brakes... Rear wheels were extremely hot so problem was found easily. After they cooled down for a while, the problem disappeared just as fast as it showed up too. The only possible part that caused this problem must have been the brake balance valve.

But now as the brakes spun freely, we drove back to the lineup for another try at the full throttle run. But unfortunately this time we didn't make it as the pit silence starts at 6PM. So now we didn't have any proper runs before the Qualifications would start on Saturday.


While this was the Test & Tune day, a friend was racing his Chevy Monza street car in there too. He was looking for a 9 second run, but unfortunately was left with the best of 10.11. His Test & Tune session ended when the whole rear axle broke into two pieces!

[Niko L]

Saturday:

Saturday morning wasn't as sunny as Friday was, but luckily it wasn't raining. Now as we had done couple of easy runs and the brake problem was disappeared too, we were ready to go full throttle.

The first Qualifying Round was at 11:02 AM. We had the same setup as on the last run. I had a decent RT, .094 and the car ran 12.725 & 163.77 KM/H. So far away from where it should be, but of course this was just the first clean full throttle run.



After the first run we adjusted the valves but otherwise everything stayed the same. The second round at 12:23 PM offered a minor improvement, 12.644 & 163.81 KM/H, but of course we were still two tenths slower than our NHRA index. My reactions were identical to the first round, .094 again!

Before the third round we adjusted timing on the engine. Our third Qualifying Round was at 1:43 PM, and now I was sleeping at the wheel with my reactions, .174. The best 60 FT time of the day and a big improvement to my ET, now I ran 12.468 & 166.82 KM/H. So we were clearly getting into the right direction even though there was still a lot of room for improvement.




After the third round we decided to try tuning the carburetor to see if that would help. We also adjusted the timing a bit more, so hopefully the 4th run would be better. But unfortunately it started raining before our 4th round and while the rain didn't stop, the Qualifying was over. That wasn't good since we were still trying to find the right setup for the engine and we were also slower than our NHRA index...

Qualifying Results:

1. Jarmo Grönman took the #1 spot with his C/S Chevy Camaro as usual. His best run was 10.267 that is -1.083 under NHRA 11.35 index.


2. Arto Sulopuisto with his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He was very close of running a second under his NHRA 11.20 index, but didn't quite make it with 10.227 (-0.973 under).


3. Jarmo Markkanen with his A/S Pontiac Firebird. He ran 9.997 that is -0.953 under NHRA 10.95 index.


4. Hannu Palasmaa with his B/S '71 Chevelle. Looks like he has finally solved the traction problems at the start, as he ran 10.329 that is -0.871 under NHRA 11.20 index.


5. Iiro Mikkola with SS/HA '69 Camaro. His best run was 9.807 that is -0.793 under NHRA 10.60 index.


6. Anna Hassinen with SS/JA Pontiac Trans Am. She moved to Super Stock from behind the wheel of a Junior Dragster and did her license runs on Friday. This is the Pontiac that Eero Knihtilä drove "back in the day", and now it's bought back to Finland after spending years in Sweden. Looks like the team got all setups right very fast and the driver was working too, the best run was 10.318 that is -0.682 under NHRA 11.00 index.



7. Vilma Palasmaa with D/SA '68 Camaro. She's another 2nd generation racer that moved up from Junior Dragsters. They bought this Camaro from Tarja Gynther and after some updating it's running faster than before. Her best run was 10.912 that is -0.638 under NHRA 11.55 index.



8. Yrjö Wallius with SS/J Rambler American. He and the Rambler were doing great, best ET was 10.194 that is -0.606 under NHRA 10.80 index.


9. Akseli Koskinen with SS/GA '67 Camaro. Last year his sister Cilla was driving this Camaro, but looks like now it was Akseli's turn to move up to Super Stock, as he is also a former Jr Dragster driver. He drove his license on Friday and drove some good numbers on Qualification. Best ET was 10.144 that is -0.406 under NHRA 11.55 index.


10. Sari Kainulainen with F/SA '66 Nova. She's another new S/SS racer and did her license runs on Friday too. The car is the Grönman Motorsport's Nova that Kai Suilo was driving last year. Sari's best ET was 11.492 that is -0.358 under NHRA 11.85 index.


11. Jouko Jalava with 302 powered D/S '69 Camaro. He ran better than last year, now the best run was 11.267 that is -0.233 under NHRA 11.50 index.


12. Niko Lindström with J/SA '74 Malibu Classic. My best was 12.468 that is 0.018 over NHRA 12.45 index.


13. Erja Halinen with C/SA Pontiac Firebird that was built by Timo Eronen during the winter. Timo did a couple of test runs with the car on Friday and then Erja was put behind the wheel. She drove her license on Friday too, but unfortunately was left without a proper run on Qualifying. Best ET for her was 15.403 (11.40 index).

[Niko L]

Sunday:

Sunday was the Elimination day. The weather was cloudy, but luckily it wasn't raining. The ladder looked like this:

J. Grönman Bye Run.
I. Mikkola VS J. Jalava
J. Markkanen VS A. Koskinen
A. Hassinen VS N. Lindström
A. Sulopuisto VS Y. Wallius
H. Palasmaa VS S. Kainulainen
V. Palasmaa VS E. Halinen

Our first Elimination Round was at Noon. No test runs were made after the tuneup we did after Qualifying Round 3, so I could only hope that the car would run well. But since I was left with slower ET than my NHRA index, my only choice was to put 12.45 dial in and hope for the best... It was a shame that I was running against Anna Hassinen on the first round, as we've been traveling together with their team for a few years now and of course you don't want to race against a friend on the first round...

Elimination Round 1:

On first pair Grönman had a solo run. He ran full throttle of course, .088 RT and 10.306.

Then it was Iiro Mikkola against Jouko Jalava. Jalava left first with good .038 RT, but Mikkola did even better, .010. Very close race, but Mikkola won by running 9.825 with 9.80 dial in against Jalava's 11.423 (11.38 dial in).

Third pair was Jarmo Markkanen against Akseli Koskinen. This race was over very soon, as Koskinen took a tiny red light (-.027). He ran very close to his dial in though, 10.145 (10.13 dial in), but Markkanen took the win. He took .012 reaction and ran 9.984 with 10.03 dial in.

On fourth pair I was running against Anna Hassinen. I knew this would be a tough race so I had to concentrate on my reactions. I left first with a pretty good .058 light and Anna left with .090 RT. It looked like a very tight race until something happened with Anna's car, it seemed like she lifted the throttle for some reason before the 1/8th mile mark. To make sure I was not going to break out, I lifted early too, so I only ran 13.580 and 99 KM/H. Later on in the pits I found out that a throttle cable snapped in two pieces during the run. That was sad, as it was going to be a tight race. But, I won and headed to round 2.

Fifth pair was Arto Sulopuisto against Yrjö Wallius. Something happened with Yrjö's Rambler though, as he rolled across the beams before the tree activated. So an easy win for Arto who ran 10.320 with 10.24 dial in and -.010 RT.

Sixth pair was Hannu Palasmaa against Sari Kainulainen. Sari left first with .169 RT but Hannu took the advantage with .046 RT. Hannu won by running 10.418 with 10.36 dial in against Sari's 11.484 (11.52 dial in).

Last pair was Vilma Palasmaa against Erja Halinen... A battle between two new S/SS drivers! Erja left first with .550 RT and ran 11.901 with 11.40 dial in, but that wasn't enough as Vilma took .266 RT and ran 11.351 with 10.71 dial in.


Elimination Round 2:

Round 2 came pretty soon after the first one. First pair was Jarmo Grönman against Iiro Mikkola. Grönman ran nicely, .069 RT and 10.300 with 10.28 dial in, but Mikkola did even better, .022 RT and 9.787 with 9.78 dial in. So Iiro Mikkola to the semi finals.

The second pair was me against Jarmo Markkanen. We had the same setup and dial in as on round 1. I knew I had to try my best again just like on the 1st round, but unfortunately this time the red light bulb turned on when I lifted the brakes... I ran full throttle until the finishing line so that I could see what the car will run. So -.087 red light for me, but the first time this summer when I ran under the NHRA index, 12.434 & 167.31 KM/H. Jarmo ran 10.012 with 9.98 dial in and .023 RT.




On the third pair Arto Sulopuisto had a solo run. He took .109 RT and ran 10.322.

The last pair was a family race between Father and Daughter as Hannu and Vilma Palasmaa were running against each other. Vilma left first with .321 RT, and Hannu with .266 RT. Vilma ran 11.115 with 10.95 dial in, but Hannu ran a bit closer, 10.494 with 10.36 dial in. So the Father went to the Semi Finals.



Semi Final Round:

The first pair on Semi Finals was Iiro Mikkola against Jarmo Markkanen. This was a very close race, Jarmo left first with .026 RT and Iiro left with .035 RT. Anyway Jarmo took the win by running 10.024 with 10.00 dial in against Iiro's 9.807 with 9.78 dial in.

The second Semi Final pair was Arto Sulopuisto against Hannu Palasmaa. Now this was very interesting since both cars run in B/S, so it was Heads Up time! It was a very close race, both had excellent reactions and it was very close until the end. Hannu took .008 RT and Arto .010 RT, but Arto's Pontiac was a bit faster, he ran 10.293 against Hannu's 10.332.


Final Round:

Final Round was a battle between two modern Pontiac Firebirds, as Jarmo Markkanen was running against Arto Sulopuisto. But the game was over already at the start as Arto red lighted by -.052 and ran 10.364 with 10.32 dial in. Jarmo left with -.010 red light too, but of course it didn't matter since Sulopuisto did that mistake earlier. Jarmo ran 10.040 with 10.01 dial in and took the win... Congratulations!



After the finals we put our car inside the bus and helped team Hassinen to do the same with their Pontiac.





Overall I was pretty happy with the race weekend even though we're still not as fast as we hoped. But I'm happy as we got all problems solved during the weekend and of course it's always fun to be racing on the 1/4 Mile!

[Niko L]

Here is a short video of my runs...



And here's a link to Full Picture Gallery.