09/07/2006

ALASTARO 2006

Knickers and air bags

Readers of our Main Event report will be aware of our back axle woes.  Suffice to say that one week before the race car was due to sail to Finland , we had three dragsters lined up at the workshop and not a back axle in any of them!  If this wasn’t enough, one of our commercial partners, Silverline, wanted us to display a race car at a show in the west county on the same weekend as the Alastaro meeting, so no pressure then.  The solution was to fit the back axle from the no2 car to the no 1 car and the axle from the no3 car to the no2 car (pay attention, this is important).  Still unable to obtain new gear sets for the no1 car axle, Chris Demke, an alcohol racer in the States, kindly sent us a used gear set and this was tested then fitted and the entire axle loaded as a spare.

The ferry trip to Finland takes 4 days so Linda normally accompanies Dave and they have a quiet few days together discussing drag racing and the meaning of life.  This was fine except for the fact that Linda had forgotten to pack any underwear in her overnight bag.  Dave was therefore assigned the task of gaining entry to the load deck, entering the trailer and grabbing some of Linda’s knickers.  Needless to say this could have been awkward to explain had an eagle-eyed ferry employee noticed but fortune favours the brave and all was well.  Good fortune did not continue on the way to the track however as an airbag in the trailer suspension let go.  Andy Robinson was travelling in convoy and he kindly gave Dave a hand to re-rig the pipework to get to the track.  This was all done with the trailer on jacks and in the pouring rain!

Day one of qualifying began, as the entire meeting was to continue, in bright sunshine.  Only 4 cars in the class as Rob Turner had been unable to make the trip.  Nevertheless the opposition was strong as Peter Schofer had taken the win at the Main Event and everyone knows (and fears) the potential of Krister’s A-fuel car.  The surprise package of the weekend turned out to be Arto Hoyla as he set several new personal bests.  Our first run was cautious clocking 5.60 and 250mph.  This proved to be sufficient for no1 qualifier but only just as Peter Schofer also clocked 5.60.  The scheduled second run on Friday did not occur as the dreaded curfew arrived so an extra run was scheduled by the FHRA for Saturday.

Q2 was uneventful with a steady improvement to 5.56 and 256mph.  Interestingly Peter Schofer also improved and, you guessed it, he ran 5.56 also.  We were still no1 qualifier but by only 3 thousandths of a second.  Q3 and with the temperature soaring, we improved to 5.50 and 256mph.  Believe it or not but at this point we were the quickest car at the Alastaro track having run quicker then all the top fuel cars!  The stage was set for a thrilling 4^th round of qualifying.  We made our burnout but upon return to the start line, David was speaking to Dave on the radio and shortly afterwards the car was shut down and towed back to the pits.  To rub salt into our wounds, Peter Schofer then proceeded to take our no1 qualifier spot.

David had called for a shutdown because the oil pressure was reading abnormally low.  A major stripdown now ensued that revealed a damaged piston and cylinder liner but no direct cause of the oil pressure drop.  It was decided that the abnormally high ambient temperature plus carrying out a warmup in the pits only just before the run had allowed the oil to become too hot too soon and thus the pressure to be lower than expected.  The damaged cylinder liner and piston were changed as well as all of the rods.  This took some time and we eventually ate our evening meal sometime after midnight.  To make matters worse we had heard of the German victory in the football and of course the subsequent demise of the English challenge.

Race day began with final assembly work on the engine and a late breakfast.  Too late for David as it turned out as Dave had sat on his breakfast!  This meant a change of clothing so Dave was next to be seen working in the pits in his union-jack boxer shorts and very fetching he looked too.  Fist round was against Arto Hoyla and we knew this would be no walkover as he was on a roll and improving with each run.  Our car ran well and took the win with 5.51 and 254mph.

Our victory had been a close–run thing as we had shredded (but not broken) the blower belt.  The rear part of the car was covered in strands of cord.  Further inspection caused Dave to ask for a cylinder head change on the left-hand bank and this was duly done.  The final was against Peter Schofer and we knew we would have to be on top form as he had qualified no1 and was a couple of hundredths quicker than us.  Victory was ours with a 5.53 and 255mph.  We have closed the points gap but Peter remains in the lead and some good results in the remaining 3 rounds will be necessary for us to take the championship.  We won’t stop trying that much is guaranteed.

Thank you to the Finnish Hot Rod Association and to our commercial partners without whose support we couldn’t race.  Thanks also to our fans throughout Europe, we really appreciate your support at the racetracks.

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