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11/07/2002 RECORD SPEEDS AND RECORD RAINFALL IN FINLAND When the first half of our crew arrived at Alastaro Motorpark in Finland for the Ford Nitro Nationals (round 2 of this year's FIA championship) we were greeted with beautiful sunshine and a cloudless sky. We were also enthusiastically greeted by our driver who'd spent the last 4 days alone on a ferry accompanying our transporter on its trip over, which was organised by our friends at Air Sea Logistics. Naturally upon arrival we headed straight for the excellent track restaurant for one of their renowned "Big Giant" meals and some nice, cool local beer to refresh ourselves after the long haul to Finland. Suitably rejuvenated we set up the pit and then sat and enjoyed one of the very early morning sunrises that are unique to this race meeting. Whilst the remainder of the American Car Imports crew made their way to Finland on the Thursday those of us that were already there set about preparing and checking over the dragster and making sure it was spotless. The rest of the crew arrived just as it started raining and just in time to catch our first warm-up which sounded strong, but then we had trouble shutting the motor off. After a couple of tweaks we went for another start up and this time the motor kicked back due to excess fuel in one of the cylinders which was a result of the earlier shut off problems. To be absolutely certain no damage had been caused we pulled that cylinder head, piston and rod, confirmed that the tolerances were all still spot on and also figured out why the motor wouldn't stop properly! During all this activity the rain had got steadily heavier and a quite spectacular thunderstorm was now in progress. A bolt of lightning took out the track's most appreciated electricity supply, leaving us to work in the dark. At this point the car was ready to start and being the foolhardy bunch that we are we went for it in the dark with the awning sides up to keep up out the rain whilst paddling around in three inches of standing water. The plan was to just check the motor fired properly and then shut it straight off. However the cockpit is by far the most pleasant place to be during a warm-up so once the engine fired Dave merrily carried on filling the awning and crew's lungs with methanol fumes by revving up the motor whilst to a man we all walked off and left him to it… Now that everything was ready for the first qualifying session on Friday morning we had our dinner and then went out and about, dodging the rain and catching up with our friends on the other teams. In particular it was great to catch up with the Finnish Mad Bomber team who we hadn't seen since last year as they dutifully supplied us with sausages and nachos. Sadly the weather did not improve at all on Friday and at 4pm the organisers were left with no choice but to cancel the day's qualifying and schedule an extra session in on Saturday. Now a drag strip filled with hundreds to do because their vehicles haven't turned a wheel all day is a very strange place indeed. After another excellent meal in the restaurant we passed the rest of the evening ambling around the facility, talking complete rubbish and sampling a few local beverages, then hitting the sack before the sun came up this time to help us all sleep! Also as a result of discussions that evening Gitlli Koller, from Peter Schofer's team was appointed our class' representative. You have the full support of everyone on our team Gitlli and we're sure you'll do a great job.  Thankfully Saturday was a typical Alastaro Summer's day; sunny, warm and dry. After delays due to oil downs and problems with the track's timing system we got to make a qualifying run at 2:30 p.m. The track had suffered a little with the rain but was still in pretty good shape so we hit it hard. Spinning the tyres off the start line is crucial with a Top Methanol Dragster but we span them too much and the car snaked every way but straight down the track to a 5.71 at 252 mph run that was a credit to our driver for keeping the PlayStation 2 backed machine under control No problems were found back in the pits and the car was turned around ready for its next run. We made a sneaky change that we hoped would cure the excessive tyre spin and a few observant spectators spotted what it was. It certainly worked as on the second qualifying run the elapsed time dropped down to a stout 5.597 seconds and the terminal speed went up to 253.81 mph which was a new FIA European speed record, beating our own previous record of 252.84 mph. So as the sneaky change worked so successfully I couldn't possibly reveal what it was here as then I'd have to kill you all… Despite being in the middle of nowhere the Alastaro facility has an 8 p.m. curfew so no more qualifying sessions could be fitted in before the huge Saturday crowd, leaving us paired against the Mad Bomber gang and their driver Jari Halinen in Sunday's eliminations. Once the car was ready for race day we spent another evening relaxing, bench racing and catching up with our Finnish friends Melina, Salla, Mika and the very lovely Saari (thanks very much for the doughnuts by the way people - we've never had apple ones before). Unfortunately Sunday dawned much like Friday; wet and overcast. Despite our best sunshine dances the downpour continued until well after lunchtime before the track crew got a chance to get out and dry the track, a job they had almost completed when the heavens opened again and the racing had to be cancelled. It was a great shame for everyone involved but that's drag racing. The organisers tried their best but nothing could be done. We spent the next couple of hours with the people from Image Wizard Television filming some in depth footage about what a Top Methanol Dragster actually is which should be aired within the next few weeks so watch out for that.  After all the TV stardom there was nothing for it but to head for the restaurant one last time and unwind from a weekend where we never really got the chance to get wound up in the first place. After leaving the restaurant much fun was had testing the brakes on the hire cars around the grand prix circuit, dodging the security guards and sharing tall stories with Urs Erbacher's Fat Attack Funny Car team. On Monday we packed everything away and flew home to England except for Dave and David who took the truck over to Sweden to leave it there ready for the next FIA round at Mantorp Park in two weeks time before they flew back. Many thanks to our friends at Micke Kagered Racing who are looking after the truck for us whilst it is in Sweden. That's really all there is to say. The whole American Car Imports Racing team is very happy with the runs we made in Finland but disappointed we didn't get the chance to make more. No damage was incurred so we still have all three of our engines and all of our other spare parts in race ready condition and we're all looking forward to the Mantorp race, particularly as we are the defending champions there. Many thanks to all of our great sponsors and our very dedicated crew who made this trip to Finland a very enjoyable success. Yet again our pit marshal Matti did an outstanding job keeping us informed at all our times and all the FHRA staff made us feel very welcome at their superb facility. Finally cheers to Tomas from the Leanders Brothers Funny Car team for the mysterious bottled potions and a huge thank you to the "Unknown Drunken Biker" for walking in to that pillar in the restaurant so gracefully and making the entire team laugh so much it hurt. I just wish we'd had a video camera…
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