F-Body Europe

Returned from my Sweden Trip at 4:30am today - and went to work!
Was a long trip for... hm... bad weather and freezing my a$$ off.
But on this Pro Mod Series I am learning a lot about dragracing and about different tracks (good and bad samples and details) allover Europe.

In short: The track at Malmo I found too narrow for Pro Mods, even though the lenght was only 1/8 th mile. We (Kuno and I) did not measure but we estimated 6 to 6,5 meter width per lane - the most. Just a little side travelling to the left or to the right will get the car into the other lane or the side wall. And a few cars got damaged that way, incl. one ProMod which "modified" the headers that way...
The swedish racers drove a very aggressive style, 4.1 - 4.3 seconds on the eight', they propably knew the track already from training: every Wednesday and on the weekends they have Streetcars out there, and 60-ft-T&T for the race cars.
Two ProMods killed their brandnew 55000,-€ engines, one was on fire and the other one had huge holes in the block where the pistons decided to find new ways on their own...

We made it into the eliminations but we had serious discussions with our driver: I translated half the chassis book but even the computer sensors showed nothing wrong. He just kept driving two to three tenth of a second too careful and we and the dutch team (Robert Koper) were somewhere in the last third of the field: "Next run you better drive - I am not spending my weekends with you to see you loose all the time" said Kuno's wife.
Saturday night due to rain the last qualification round was moved to Sunday morning. Then it was cancelled, because the Sunday was short enough for the eliminations of a 16 car field... considering that the Pro Mods need quiet a bit time to get race ready again after each run.

Then on Sunday morning the first shock: During warmup the oil pressure dropped constantly. Was it the sensor or the oil pressure? Usually the oil was used for 2 - 3 runs, but in the engine over night with the methanol... and because of the later expected quali run left in there. Norbert decided: Last minute oil change!
20 minutes - 12 liters... heating up the oil and the stabilizer at the heater, holding the funnel and the hose already in place while still waiting for the "bottom" to give the "ok - old out." They were calling our team up separat already when we did the second warmup with crossed fingers: oil pressure stable ... and we ran with the car to the line up like we wanted to win the race already through the pits - just to wait there: two oil downs.

Then our elimination round: with a 4.65 against a 4.2 driver from Sweden: Kuno was leaving the start line first, he was ahead at the 60 ft and way in front at the first 1/8 laser... something sounded different and he passed the finish line with a surprising and spectacular 4.35... the parachutes of both cars opened... the other team congratulated us ... and the score board showed their time was a 4.19 ???
Confusion for a moment.
The other car passed our at the last few feet.
What happened?
The blower belt blew up and was sticking at various places through the damaged hood.
The computer program showed: the rev limiter was set at 9500 rpm, Norbert must have overlooked the shift light and at 9300 rpm the rev limiter started his job a little early while still methanol was injected - just about a few feet before the finish line...
Back in the pits: taking all apart, routine checks and changes, put a new belt on and fix up whatever possible. The blower was still ok. The warmup showed the engine running ok. But too slow for the next round...
and after that the races got cancelled because of rain.
The swedish team suggested to check the engine more careful. That's what happened to theirs, they thought it was ok until the motor blew up.

This weekend the engine will be taken apart for a thourough check.
The next Race for the European Pro Mod Series will be in Sweden again, end of July, further north. A few weeks to fix the hood and order parts in the States. Maybe a test run in Drachten to see if everything is ok before we go on that even longer trip.