FHRA August Nationals 2017

[Niko L]

The fifth round of Finnish Championship Drag Race Series was the FHRA August Nationals at Motopark Raceway. We made no changes to the car after the last race, instead we had to keep trying to tune the carburetor to get rid of the bog issue at start.

Friday:

On Friday evening we arrived to Motopark Raceway, took the car out and passed the tech inspection. So we were ready to race. It looked like there was a good number of Stock and Super Stock cars, which is always great news.

Saturday:

Saturday was the Qualifying day. We were probably going to get pretty many Qualifying Rounds so there would be time to test some new carburetor tunes and see if they'd work. Our first Qualifying Round was at 11 AM.

The car acted a bit strange on the Burnout, but otherwise everything seemed to work fine so I staged normally and thought I'd see how it runs. I took .040 RT, but after that the carburetor bogged very badly, resulting an absolutely horrible 60FT time, 1.755. But otherwise the car ran pretty well, the top speed was good. My ET was 12.479 & 171.05 KM/H. But after the finishing line when I started braking, the engine shut down. When I rolled to the return road, I tried to fire it up but nothing happened. After opening the hood I saw (and smelled) that the carburetor was flooding. After I waited a while, the car fired up no problem and I drove back to the pits.

Before the second round, we opened the carburetor and tried to find out what would cause the flooding. But nothing was found, so we put it back together and fired up the car, everything worked perfectly. So when it was our turn, we drove to the staging lanes again.



The 2nd Qualifying Round wasn't a huge success. The car seemed to work pretty good on the burnout, but after that the engine started running rough and when I was supposed to stage, the engine stalled. I tried to fire it up but nothing happened. At this point we both knew that the carburetor was flooding again, so the car had to be pushed back. We waited for a while at the staging lanes and tried to fire it up again, to be able to drive it back to the pits. But it wouldn't fire up. Mika went to the pits, trying to lend somekind of a vehicle that could tow the Malibu from someone. But at the same time I got the engine fired up, so I drove back to our pit area.

At this point our only choice was to take the carburetor apart again and we cleaned up all parts very carefully, and had the carburetor back together just in time for 3rd Qualifying Round. This time I got -.015 RT and my 60FT was a bit better, but still far from good. The car didn't run so well in the top end though, so I got an ET of 12.500 & 168.65 KM/H.




Before the 4th round, we did some minor changes to the carburetor, and we also tried if raising the launch RPM would help. This time the car ran a bit better. I got .057 RT and 60FT was 1.691. Not good, but at least going into right direction. But I ran 12.417 & 169.70 KM/H, which was at least under the class index.

For the 5th round some small carburetor tuning was done again, but there was no idea if it helped or not, as the car crawled to red light as I tried to raise RPM for launch. That resulted a very bad 60FT time and my ET was 12.509 & 169.81 KM/H.

The 6th Round was at 5:37 PM, and at this point we knew this would be the last round of the day. Launch RPM was lowered a little, otherwise the setup stayed the same. But it wasn't succesful either, my RT was .078 but I suffered a huge bog at the start, which resulted a horrible ET, 12.506 & 170.38 KM/H top speed.



So the day wasn't very good for us. Well at least I was able to go under my index, but that's not enough. In the evening there was also a pretty strong thunderstorm that went through Motopark as well. It was raining very hard, wind was blowing hard and it was thundering. Luckily it happened in the evening, and not during the Qualifying!

[Niko L]

Qualifying Results:

1. Jarmo Grönman was the top Qualifier as usual with his C/S Chevrolet Camaro. He ran 10.221 which is 1.129 under NHRA 11.35 index.


2. Arto Sulopuisto with his B/S Pontiac Firebird was the second fastest guy. He ran some very good numbers, 10.086 which is 1.114 under NHRA 11.20 index.


3. Hannu Palasmaa was the number three with his B/S '71 Chevelle. He ran the best of 10.422 which is -0.778 under NHRA 11.20 index.


4. Jarmo Markkanen with his A/S Pontiac Firebird. Jarmo wasn't as fast as usual, but he ran some good numbers anyway. The best ET was 10.215 which is -0.735 under NHRA 10.95 index.


5. Iiro Mikkola with SS/HA '69 Camaro. He ran the best of 9.905 which is -0.695 under NHRA 10.60 index.


6. Anna Hassinen with SS/JA Pontiac Trans Am. She ran the best of 10.343 which is -0.657 under NHRA 11.00 index.


7. Kai Suilo with FS/C 2015 COPO Camaro. A Brand new car that they built theirselves, and it ran really good. His best ET was 9.671, which is -0.629 under NHRA 10.30 index.


8. Yrjö Wallius with SS/J '67 Rambler American. His best ET was 10.202, which is -0.598 under NHRA 10.80 index.


9. Harri Hassinen with SS/BM Chevy Camaro. He had a different final gear ratio this time and he ran a new PB as well. That was 8.625, which is -0.575 under NHRA 9.20 index.


10. Vilma Palasmaa with D/SA '68 Camaro. She ran 11.073, which is -0.477 under NHRA 11.55 index.


11. Akseli Koskinen with SS/GA '67 Camaro. His best ET was 10.114, which is -0.436 under NHRA 10.55 index.


12. Sari Kainulainen with F/SA '66 Nova. She ran the best of 11.547 which is -0.303 under NHRA 11.85 index.


13. Jouko Jalava with D/S '69 Camaro. He ran 11.356 which is -0.144 under NHRA 11.50 index.


14. Niko Lindström with J/SA '74 Malibu. My best was 12.417 which is -0.033 under NHRA 12.45 index. Not good...


15. Timo Eronen with his C/SA Pontiac Firebird. He was still testing the new car and trying to find the right adjustments. Despite that he ran 11.633 which is 0.233 over NHRA 11.40 index.

[Niko L]

Sunday:

Sunday was the Elimination day. The weather was a bit cloudy and there was a possibility of rain, but luckily our first round was pretty early, at 11:40 AM. We changed nothing from yesterday's setup, as otherwise there would be no idea about how the car might run.

Elimination Round 1:

On Round 1, first the top qualifier Jarmo Grönman had a solo run. He left with -.071 red light, but of course that didn't matter. He ran 10.237 on that run.

Second pair was Iiro Mikkola in SS/GA '69 Camaro against Sari Kainulainen in F/SA '66 Nova. Kainulainen left first with .070 RT, but her dial in was a bit off, as she ran 11.646 on 11.53 dial in. Mikkola took the win with his .040 RT and by running 10.024 on 9.92 dial in.

Third pair was a family battle, father Hannu Palasmaa going against daughter Vilma who left first with .171 RT and ran 11.246 on 11.16 dial in. But the race was over already at the starting line as Hannu took -.077 red light and ran 10.496 on 10.48 dial in. So the daughter was better this time.

Next I was running against Kai Suilo's FS/C Camaro. I left first with a fairly good .059 RT and ran full throttle until the finishing line. The car ran only 12.513 on my 12.44 dial in, but that was enough as Suilo had rolled across the beams before the tree activated. He ran 10.172 on 9.76 dial in, so I continued to the 2nd round.

Next pair was Arto Sulopuisto against Harri Hassinen. Sulopuisto left first with .262 RT. Hassinen did a lot better, .053 but he lost the traction immediately and had to lift the throttle and get back on it. So Sulopuisto continued to the 2nd round with an ET of 10.394 on 10.15 dial in, as Hassinen ran 9.545 on 8.61 dial in.

Then it was Anna Hassinen against Jouko Jalava. The race was over soon though, as Jalava left with -.154 red light. He ran 11.575 on 11.34 dial in. Anna red lighted also a little, but that didn't matter anymore, -.008 and ran 10.372 on 10.34 dial in and continued to 2nd round.

Next pair, Jarmo Markkanen against Akseli Koskinen. Jarmo had better reactions, .091 compared to Akseli's .120, but Jarmo's Pontiac had some issues at the launch and ran only 10.754 on 10.40 dial in. So Akseli took the win by running 10.232 on 10.12 dial in.

The last pair of round 1 was Yrjö Wallius against Timo Eronen. But Eronen had some technical problems, so he was a no-show. Wallius ran 10.317 on that run.

Elimination Round 2:

On 2nd round, first race was between Jarmo Grönman and Iiro Mikkola. The reactions were almost identical, .029 for Jarmo and .025 for Iiro. But Iiro ran closer to his dial in and won the very close race. He ran 9.960 on 9.94 dial in against Jarmo's 10.355 on 10.22 dial in.

Second pair was me against Vilma Palasmaa. I changed nothing, except the dial in from 12.44 to 12.45. But unfortunately the race was over very soon as I got -.036 red light. I ran full throttle to the finish line and my ET was 12.449 on my 12.45 dial in, so that was close. But Vilma continued to the Semi Finals by running 11.186 on 11.21 dial in.

Third pair was a race between two Pontiacs. Arto Sulopuisto in his 4th Gen Firebird and Anna Hassinen in her 3rd Gen Trans Am. Hassinen left first with .235 RT, Sulopuisto was a bit better, .195, but after a very close race Anna Hassinen got the winner's light and she continued to the semis as well. She ran 10.358 on 10.34 dial in as Sulopuisto ran 10.228 on 10.17 dial in.

Last pair of Round 2 was Akseli Koskinen against Yrjö Wallius. Wallius left first with .106 RT and ran closer to his dial in, 10.312 on 10.30 dial in, but that wasn't enough as Koskinen took .044 RT and ran 10.124 on 10.12 dial in.


After the 2nd round it started raining. It rained for a while, but luckily it ended and then the sun started shining. Track was dried and racing could be continued!


Semi Final Round:

In the Semi Finals the first pair was Iiro Mikkola against Vilma Palasmaa. Vilma left first with .013 RT and won by red light as Iiro left -.007 seconds too soon. Vilma ran 11.439 on 11.16 dial in as Iiro ran 9.985 on 9.93 dial in.

The second Semi Final pair was between two rookie drivers who moved up to Super Stock for this 2017 season. Anna Hassinen against Akseli Koskinen. Hassinen left first with .130 RT against Akseli's .145 RT. It was a very close race, but Anna won by running 10.358 on 10.34 dial in, just like on previous round! Akseli ran 10.156 on 10.12 dial in, but this time it wasn't enough.

Final Round:

Final Round was exciting as there were two rookies who had been doing some great runs during the Elimination ladder. Vilma Palasmaa left first with .036 RT but broke out, 11.145 on 11.27 dial in, so Anna who left with .009 RT won the race by running 10.378 on 10.34 dial in. Congrats on her first win in this class!






For us the weekend wasn't the best, but we had a good time which is of course the most important thing.

Here is a video of my runs...


And here's a link to the Picture Gallery.