FHRA Night Race Finals 2017

[Niko L]

The 2017 FHRA Finals were also driven as a Night Race at Alastaro Drag Strip! After last year's one exhibition run at night I was super excited about it. I was even more excited about the Night Show than what I was about the rest of the race. This time, unlike last year, the Qualifying would be on Friday, Eliminations on Saturday and Night Show on Saturday Night. Then there was also a Test & Tune on Sunday, which would be a great way to end a season.

After the last event at Motopark we didn't do any major changes, just tried to do a bit of tuneup for the carburetor and we also adjusted the front shocks to see if that would help the launch. And of course as this was the Night Race, we had to check that all of the lights work on the car.

Thursday:
On Thursday evening we arrived to the pits. The car was taken off from the bus and we went through tech also. Now everything was ready for racing on Friday morning. It was great to see a full 16 car ladder of Stock and Super Stock cars present, and also one Swedish racer showed up. Very nice!

Friday:
Friday morning was rainy, even though the weather forecast said it shouldn't rain. Well, it was raining anyway so all we could do was wait.



Finally in the afternoon the rain stopped and the track could be dried. It was 2:12 PM when I got my first time slip of the event. On that run I left with -.075 red light, but my 60FT was 1.687. Not good, but better than what I had on my last runs at Motopark anyway. I ran 12.378 & 170.53 KM/H, so at least I was under my class index already. Now we just had to try to fix the carburetor bog issue for round 2...

Before round 2 we adjusted the carburetor even more and tuned the front shocks a bit also. But this time it had a huge bog at starting line, resulting a horrible 60FT time and a bad ET as well. I ran only 12.463 and 169.74 KM/H top speed. So looks like our modifications went into the wrong direction...

For round 3 we undid the modifications, so I had exactly the same setup as on round 1. Of course the weather was a bit different now, so it was interesting to see what happens. The launch was better, but still not good. I took .058 RT and ran 12.422 and 170.22 KM/H. As the clock was already 7:30 PM at this point, it was clear that this would be our last Qualifying Round for the day.

[Niko L]

Qualifying Results:

1. Jarmo Grönman was the #1 Qualifier as usual. His C/S Chevy Camaro ran 10.226, which is -1.124 under NHRA 11.35 index.


2. Arto Sulopuisto took the 2nd place with his B/S Pontiac Firebird. He set some really good numbers, the best ET was 10.107 which is -1.093 under NHRA 11.20 index.


3. Björn Bondesson from Sweden was third with his B/SA '71 Chevelle. He likes big wheelstands, which is probably not a surprise for anyone who has seen the Chevelle launching... His best ET was 10.161, which is -1.089 under NHRA 11.25 index.


4. Jarmo Markkanen with his A/S Pontiac Firebird. He had solved the problems that he had on last event at Motopark, and now he was running as good as usual. His best ET was 10.004, which is -0.946 under NHRA 10.95 index.


5. Hannu Palasmaa with his B/S '71 Chevelle. His best ET was 10.473, which is -0.727 under NHRA 11.20 index.


6. Iiro Mikkola with his SS/HA '69 Camaro. He ran the best of 9.884, which is -0.716 under NHRA 10.60 index.


7. Anna Hassinen with her SS/JA Pontiac Trans Am. Her best ET was 10.291, which is -0.709 under NHRA 11.00 index.


8. Yrjö Wallius with his SS/J Rambler American. His best run was 10.256, which is -0.544 under NHRA 10.80 index.


9. Akseli Koskinen with SS/GA '67 Camaro. If I'm not mistaken he ran new Personal Best ET during the Qualifying, the best run was 10.082, which is -0.468 under NHRA 10.55 index.


10. Harri Hassinen with SS/BM Chevrolet Camaro. He ran 8.743, which is -0.457 under NHRA 9.20 index.


11. Timo Eronen with SS/AH Dodge Hemi Dart. The car is built by Eronen himself, and it's running pretty well. His best ET was 8.875, which is -0.425 under NHRA 9.30 index.


12. Sari Kainulainen with her F/SA '66 Nova. Her best ET was 11.436, which is -0.414 under NHRA 11.85 index.


13. Vilma Palasmaa with her D/SA '68 Camaro. Her best ET was 11.148, which is -0.402 under NHRA 11.55 index.


14. Kai Suilo with his FS/C COPO Camaro. He ran the best of 9.901, which is -0.399 under NHRA 10.30 index.


15. Niko Lindström with J/SA '74 Malibu Classic. My best was 12.378, which is -0.072 under NHRA 12.45 index.


16. Jouko Jalava with his D/S '69 Camaro. He ran the best of 11.494, which is -0.006 under NHRA 11.50 index, but unfortunately his 302 SBC suffered pretty large damages during the last Qualifying run, so his weekend was over. But I was glad to hear that he is building a more potential (Even more RPM) 302 for the car so with the new motor he should be faster.

[Niko L]

Saturday:

Saturday was the day for the Eliminations, and of course for the long waited Night Show. Grönman Motorsport had also planned a Stock & Super Stock Shootout to be driven at late evening / night. Needless to say that I was in.

Anyway, the weather looked really good and our first Elimination round would be a bit after 10AM. We didn't modify anything on the car, as that was the safest bet for trying to run anywhere near the dial in.

Elimination Round 1:

On the first pair Jarmo Grönman was going against Akseli Koskinen. Grönman had better reactions, .064 compared to Koskinen's .121, but he was pretty far off from his dial in, driving 10.556 on 10.20 dial in. So Akseli Koskinen continued to the 2nd round with an ET of 10.109 on 10.07 dial in.

Second pair was yet another race between Hannu and Vilma Palasmaa. This was at least the third time they were racing against each others this year. Hannu took the advantage at the tree, .047 against Vilma's .147, which forced Vilma to break out, she ran 11.079 on 11.10 dial in. So Hannu continued to the 2nd round, he ran 10.394 on 10.35 dial in.

On third pair Björn Bondesson was racing against Timo Eronen. Bondesson left first with .060 RT, but Timo was better with his .013 light. Despite having a better reaction time, Timo was unable to catch Björn's Chevelle that ran 10.176 on 10.09 dial in as Timo's Hemi Dart went 8.982 on 8.80 dial in.

On the next pair I was running against Anna Hassinen. That was going to be a tough race, and I thought I'd put 12.37 as my dial in. But the red light bulb was flashing on my lane as I left -.052 seconds too early and Anna won before she even launched the car... But I had a really bad carburetor bog at the start, and I ran only 12.451 on my 12.37 dial in. Anna left with .100 RT and ran 10.264 on her 10.26 dial in.

Next Arto Sulopuisto was running against Harri Hassinen. Sulopuisto left with much better reactions, .091 compared to Hassinen's .216. Hassinen couldn't catch the Pontiac as he ran 8.848 on his 8.63 dial in, so Sulopuisto continued to the next round with his 10.295 ET (10.08 dial in).

Then it was Iiro Mikkola against Kai Suilo. Mikkola had a big holeshot against Suilo, .124 against Suilo's .363 RT. And he continued to the next round as well, Suilo broke out running 9.658 on his 9.72 dial in. Mikkola went 9.905 on his 9.86 dial in.

The second last pair was Jarmo Markkanen against Sari Kainulainen. Unfortunately this race was over already at the starting line, as Sari left with a tiny -.004 red light. So close... She ran 11.438 on 11.41 dial in. Jarmo continued to the 2nd round, he left with .060 RT and ran 9.981 on his 10.00 dial in.

Last pair of round 1 was a solo run for Yrjö Wallius, as Jouko Jalava's engine was broken. Yrjö left with -.052 RT and ran 10.236 on that run.


Elimination Round 2:

On the second round, first Akseli Koskinen was going against Hannu Palasmaa. Both guys left with really good reactions, .029 for Akseli and .017 for Hannu. But it was Akseli who ran closer to his dial in, 10.085 on 10.07 dial in, against Hannu's 10.487 on 10.35 dial in, so Koskinen to the Semi Finals.

Next pair. Björn Bondesson against Anna Hassinen. Hassinen left first with .136 RT and ran 10.290 on her 10.25 dial in. But the race was over pretty soon as Bondesson fouled with his -.097 red light. He drove 10.158 on 10.09 dial in.

Then it was Arto Sulopuisto against Iiro Mikkola. Sulopuisto left with a better reaction time, .037 against Iiro's .081 RT. After a very close race, Sulopuisto took the win by running 10.090 on his 10.06 dial in, as Mikkola ran 9.892 on his 9.88 dial in.

Last pair of round 2 was Jarmo Markkanen against Yrjö Wallius. Two very experienced Stock/Super Stock racers against each other. Wallius left with .025 RT, which gave him an advantage over Jarmo's .106 RT. And Wallius was able to stay ahead the whole way, and he took the won by running 10.311 on 10.24 dial in, even though Jarmo ran really close to his dial (10.019 on 10.00 dial in).


Semi Final Round:

First pair in the Semis was Akseli Koskinen against Anna Hassinen. Again two rookie drivers against each other, and one of them going into the Finals, too! Anna had a better reaction time, .033 against Akseli's .102 and she was able to keep the lead until the finish. So she continued to the finals by running 10.282 on 10.27 dial in, as Koskinen ran 10.085 on 10.07 dial in.

The second pair was Arto Sulopuisto against Yrjö Wallius. This time Sulopuisto was a bit sleepy at the tree and got .274 RT. Wallius had a big holeshot on him with his .087 RT. Wallius ran 10.294 on 10.27 dial in, and won as Sulopuisto broke out by running 10.25 on 10.07 dial in.


Final Round:


In the Final Round Anna Hassinen who had been racing Super Stock since the start of this season was going against Yrjö Wallius who has been racing in this class since the 1980s. It would be a very tough race since both drivers had been doing some great passes on the previous rounds, and beating some tough opponents during the way to the Finals. But unfortunately red light flashed on Anna's lane, as she left with -.035 red light. She ran 10.269 on her 10.27 dial in. But Wallius took the win by running 10.243 on 10.25 dial in. He left with .105 RT.

[Niko L]

After the Finals, we went to check out the prize ceremony, and after that it was time to prepare ourselves and the car ready for the S&SS Shootout! This is what the Shootout was all about. All drivers paid a small entry fee for the race, and all the cash would later on go to whoever wins the Shootout. Almost everyone participated in this Shootout, but a couple of guys got left out because of various reasons, but I guess mostly their reason was somekind of technical problem with the car. First round pairs were selected by drawing numbers from a hat, and then the race would go normally with a 16 car ladder, and it was driven just like any other S/SS Eliminations.

With the help of Pasi's weather station, we ended up choosing a dial in of 12.42. I was going to run against Björn Bondesson's '71 Chevelle, so it would be a very tough race.

There are no Shoot Out results posted anywhere in the internet, so I can't go through the whole ladder. But Shootout round 1 was at 8:25PM. It wasn't really dark yet, but it was starting to get darker and darker all the time. So I put my yellow driving lights on from the Malibu.

Shoot Out Round 1:



So I was running against Björn Bondesson's '71 Chevelle. After the Burnout I staged the car normally, but exactly at the same time when I rolled to Stage, the tree went on and there was no way I could launch in time. So I got a horrible .239 RT, and I knew immediately before the 60FT beams that I was going to lose. I ran 12.447 on my 12.42 dial in, so that was pretty close, but with a horrible RT like that, Bondesson got an easy win and overtook me a lot before the finishing line.

Back to the pits I found out that I was not the only one who lost because of the tree starting too fast. Well, as I was going to run in the Night Show anyway, it didn't matter that much that I lost, but of course it feels bad to lose because of that kind of a reason.


Night Show:

Now it was starting to get dark and the track was looking good.




We went to watch the action for a while before going to the track, as of course when you run at Night Race, you want to drive in the dark. So we waited for a while so that the sky was completely dark and then headed to the Lineup to wait for our turn. Before that we had adjusted the ignition timing to see if that would help.

My first Exhibition Run was at 9:57 PM. Last year there was zero lights at the Lineup so it was very tricky to fire up your car when you saw absolutely nothing. This year they had added a few lights in there as well, so it was easy to find the right buttons for Ignition, Fuel Pump, Starter and Water Pump when the officials showed me to go to the track. I did a bit bigger Burnout as usual, but of course I did because this was an exhibition run anyway. After the Burnout I was showed to shut the motor, so I was scared for a while that the car was leaking or something like that. Luckily it was only Eronen's Hemi Dart that had taken the last time beam with it at the top end, and the track crew had to go and fix the problem. When the track was clear, I was pushed back to the Burnout box and I did a light burnout, just to make sure the tires wouldn't be cold and they wouldn't spin at the start. I staged the car and launched with .057 RT. My 60FT wasn't any better as the carburetor bogged again, but I ran 12.367 despite that and 170.90 KM/H! So the ignition timing looked like a good thing. Also this year it was nice to drive back to the pits as there were lights in the return road. The lights on our race car are working, but you can't see anything with them... They're so yellow.

Two pics of this run by Mika.



And more pics, better quality this time. Big thanks to TM Racing for these great photos!






After this run I drove back to the pits and got ready to go and watch the Night Race Action. Just as I was about to start walking to the side of the track, one of the track crew members came to ask if I already made a pass. I said yes, and then she told me to go again. I thought there would be so many racers wanting to run at night that I'd get only that one single run. But I'm glad I was wrong.

So at 10:31PM I was firing up the car at Lineup again! We made no changes to it between the runs. After the Burnout I staged the car normally. Again this time the tree went on super fast, so I got a horrible .142 RT. The carburetor had a huge bog also so my 60FT was very bad. But still I ran 12.477 & 170.74 KM/H, which tells that we were getting into the right direction with the tuneup. And it was a lot of fun to run at night!

Here is an In Car Video of my Night Show runs.


The Shootout Winner was Akseli Koskinen and Runner Up was Arto Sulopuisto. Congrats to both!

I also have to mention that Sulopuisto ran on ShootOut's 1st round 9.984 ET, which is faster than the current B/S NHRA National Record!


After the Night Show was over, we started to eat some food and went to sauna. On Sunday would be a Test & Tune day, where we were planning to try to get rid of the carburetor bog...

[Niko L]

Test & Tune Sunday:

Sunday was Test & Tune day. Several cars showed up for the testing only, and several racers left there to test their cars one more time before the long winter. Our plan was to try everything we could to get rid of the carburetor bog issue.

The weather was nice on Sunday, so we were ready to go.



Before our first run, we adjusted the ignition timing. First run was at 11:08 AM. I left with .065 RT and I had a better 60FT than on my last Show Run yesterday night. The engine was running a bit rich at the top end, and the time slip had numbers of 12.391 & 170.32 KM/H. So a decent run.

Before our 2nd run we adjusted the timing a little again. My 60FT was slightly better, but still a bit off from where it should be. Anyway I improved a bit by running 12.350 & 170.90 KM/H.

For our third run, we did a bunch of tuning with the carburetor. I left with .061 RT, but I had a horrible carburetor bog at the start. My 60FT time was .100 seconds slower than on my previous run, so that explains why I ran only 12.464 & 170.82 KM/H. The top speed was pretty good despite of the horrible start, so the air/fuel mixture was pretty good.

Fourth run was at 2:38PM. We undid some of the modifications that we made before Run 3. It helped a bit, I left with .038 RT and my 60FT was slightly better, but still far from good. I ran 12.411 and 170.66 KM/H.

Before the 5th run we made some more carburetor changes. A friend told that he had solved similar problem in their Buick Stocker with this similar setup, so we tried if it would work here. For some reason it resulted an even worse carburetor bog, so it didn't work on our car. I ran only 12.657 with 169.52 KM/H top speed.

Sixth run was at 3:51 PM and this was going to be our last pass of the day. Some of the previous modifications were returned back to where they were and the car seemed to like that. I had a decent 60FT time and ran 12.328 & 170.88 KM/H, which was the best run of the whole season despite the weather not being ideal.


After all it was a good Test & Tune day for us. Even though we didn't figure the carburetor problem out, we made a bit of progress with it.

Here is a video of my runs.


A friend was testing his Monza also, here is a video of his best run.


And another friend set a new PB for his turbocharged '69 Camaro.


And here's a link to our Picture Gallery.

Overall the season was a pretty good one. We had problems with the car and tuneup, but it was fun and I did pretty good on a couple of races, too. Next year we plan to be faster and hopefully I can do a bit better job at the Eliminations, too. Let's see.