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16/08/2005 HOW TO ORGANISE A NON-EVENT The FIA needn't have worried, just to be sure that Indianopolis wasn't a one-off, Mantorp Park has backed it up. More on this later. We had flown to Gothenburg City airport which one might describe as petit. Suffice to say that we landed, drove to the end of the runway , made a handbrake turn and raced back up the runway before the next plane landed. A two and a half hour high-speed drive later and we were at Mantorp. Dave and Linda were the advanced party and had set up the pit and unloaded the car by the time we arrived. Fire up the car and all was ready for racing on Friday. It's customary for us to run the first qualifier with a relatively mild tune-up as it gives us data and a benchmark upon which to build. A track inspection suggested that the surface was good and might take some power so we decided to be a little aggressive. The track crew had clearly done a good job as we knocked out a cracking 5.45 at 260mph. This was a new track record for methanol dragster. A blower panel had burst which suggested that we might have lost some power during the run. For those that don't know, the blower panel is a thin-walled panel that fractures when subjected to excess pressure. Once split, the blower pressure into the engine is reduced and so is engine power. So the track had taken a relatively aggressive set-up, what to do now? Some entertaining discussion now ensued resulting in the decision to really go for it in Q2. Tony "it will either go like f**k or smoke like f**k" and David "we're not just throwing a big stick at it but a whole forest". Expectations were high for Q2. The launch was a little subdued and there was a lot of shake but 5.43 came up on the board with a speed of 260mph. 2 runs, new track records and no1 qualifier, things were looking promising. The data for the 5.43 had perfect curves on the graphs and we had thrown just about everything bar the kitchen sink at the track, what now? The tyre shake had blistered the right rear tyre but we decided to leave it to see if it would scrub off. It has been said before in these reports that 'set-up' is a loose term encompassing changing components, making adjustments to components and making changes to the driver input for each run. In effect, each run is 'designed' by changing a few or sometimes many of these parameters. We had the shake to deal with and there were a few adjustments we could still try for Q3. The shake was reduced in Q3 but the launch still seemed a bit lethargic and perhaps the 5.47 reflected this. We noticed that everyone else's times seemed to be down so perhaps the track had gone away a little. The blistered right rear was no better so our brand new wheels (courtesy of wheel supplier Blingrims) and tyres were fitted. It had been damp and miserable all day and finally the skies decided to unload big-time and racing was abandoned. We remained no1 qualifier and it was great to see Andy Robinson no1 qualifier too in a huge Pro Mod field. Eliminations day started just as the final qualifier had finished - heavy rain. It was 2pm by the time the Rain Gods took their lunch break allowing us to take a bye run in the first round. We wanted run data and lane choice for round 2 so it was to be a full pass. To our surprise it was 5.52. There was no time to be too concerned however as we had to throw ourselves into the turnaround routine. A few minutes later and the bombshell was dropped. Racing was to stop within the hour and we would not be running again. Round 3 of the FIA European Championship, bright sunshine and after only 3 hours racing it was over, Monty Python had nothing on this. It's not worth describing the discussions, explanations, apologies, frustrations and injustices, suffice to say that the racers, spectators and drag racing in general were all the losers. Sorrows were duly drowned on Sunday evening and we were very pleased to welcome the Eurodragster team comprising Tog, Sharkman, Christer and Simon to our pit. They even brought their own drink. Late in the evening and after a significant intake of alcohol, it doesn't take much imagination to picture the conversation. Little gems such as "she's had far too much and I've got to sleep with her tonight". Perhaps even better (and you read it here first) was the revelation from Tog that Christer had been wearing tights the day before! Well, those media types are a funny lot. Off to Gardermoen for a couple of days nudist-spotting at a campsite at Karlstad. Bye for now.
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