2011 NitrOlympX
Saturday
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The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news. Click here to go back to the event index 00:20 Sunday Today's pictures have been posted and can be checked out via the Event Index page. There are 175 pictures in all; if you do not see all 175 updated thumbnails when you view the gallery page then click on your Browser's Refresh button. 22:30 Simon has posted another set of pit notes which you can check out via the Event Index page. We have pretty much got today's pictures selected but we'll post those from the hotel so tune back in a couple of hours for those. Night Show Top Fuel Dragster Shelley Pearson 5.666/294.31 bye
Urs Erbacher 10.957/102.85, Stig Neergaard 12.270/91.07
Supertwin
Lorenz Stäuble 6.995/310.19 bye Top Fuel Bike Peter Svensson 6.153.351.55, Kai Selkämäa 7.021/341.23 Rocket Funny Car David Pertué 5.741/292.09 Fuel Funny Car Gordon Smith 6.583/236.66 bye Rocket Bike Eric had the bike set up for a 5.0 but crossed lanes at half track, first time I have seen that happen. Scary moment as it sounded as if the rocket re-lit in the shutdown area and Eric disappeared into a huge cloud of team but I guess it could have been a fuel purge. Eric is perfectly OK as is the bike. 20:35 Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Josh Saunders (8.08) 8.120/128.89, Pirmin Schmid (8.53) 8.645/119.23, Elodie Dubois (8.16) 8.243/125.14, Leo Angeloni (12.90) 14.133/74.35, Rhiannon Bellenie (8.00) 8.189/127.86, Lucas Dubourget (9.05) 9.202/116.67, Killian Maugan (9.20) 9.263/113.02, Jill Kemp (11.01) 11.162/88.76 19:05 FIA Pro Modified eliminations round 1 Tami Brander 7.780/304.20 def. Norbert Kuno 18.944/64.43
Mats Eriksson 6.723/248.04 DQ, Adam Flamholc no time DQ
Andy Robinson 6.220/372.59 def. Jan Gunnarsson 6.187/380.42
Johan Lindberg 6.1266/379.69 def. Rolf Ammann 7.663/251.72
Marc Meihuizen 6.125/377.32 def. Robert Joosten 6.279/369.68 DQ
Urban Johansson 6.197/371.45 def. Linda Thun Tønseth 7.290/190.14
Bruno Bader 6.164/369.99 def. Roger Johansson 6.292/366.43
Micke Gullqvist 6.062/388.59 def. Marco Maurischat 6.541/361.19
19:05 Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Oliver Krautberger (10.70) 10.702/205.11, Tom van der Wijd (10.43) 10.649/200.42 bye, Ulrich Kelgelmann (10.19) 10.292/209.34, Jens Dahms (11.98)12.112/178.52, Peter Gierlach (11.39) 11.597/162.23, Roger Vögeli (9.30) 9.380/230.41, Lutz Schäre (11.85) 11.993/183.51, Reinhard Garbers (10.10) 10.172/198.35, Daniel Vetterl (10.49) 10.575/194.43, Lukas Seppi (11.95) 12.079/182.55, Martin Weikum (10.50) 10.738/207.13, Nicole Rechsteiner (9.22) 9.203/211.07, Michael Maderer (10.87) 11.007/196.81, Eduart Hildenbrand (9.30) 9.742/185.36 Christian Frei (10.99) 11.061/196.04, Gerhard Dold (11.99) 12.245/170.42 Next up, round one of Pro Mod eliminations. 18:30 UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Jaska Salakari 9.993/143.86 bye; Kai Selkämäa no time, Steve Woollatt 7.087/322.92; Peter Svensson 5.964/375.55 bye Good-looking run for Jaska to about 330 feet when the motor started to smoke, the smoke got worse and he was off the gas at the eighth. Track checked and all OK. Steve told us before his run that his bike didn't much like the bleach box but he pulled a great burnout this time. Red in Kai's lane, he sat there in disbelief then went, no time. Steve's motor hesitated off the line losing him some time but then the bike hooked up and went. Fantastic run from Peter to round off Pro qualifying, 3.9-second eighth-mile time came up so it was going to be a close thing and into the fives he went! That's a new European ET record backed up by the 6.018 earlier. The 375.55 will be a new speed record too if Peter backs it up. Well done Peter and Sören! Qualifying after this session:
18:20 UEM Supertwin qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Petri Mattsson no time DQ bye; Christian Jäger no time DQ bye; Roman Sixta 8.848/221.98, Hans Olav Olstad no time; Samu Kemppainen 9.230/166.63, Roel Koedam 6.562/320.72; Lorenz Stäuble 6.996/293.95, Job Heezen 7.721/211.38 Another bye for Petri, took out the 330 foot reflector crossing the centre line DQing the run. It also appeared from here that the bike dropped a piece onto the track. Christian in the last chance saloon, as mentioned in Q3 there were reasons to find the last run a bit more promising. That run also looked good but the Black Seven bike headed to the right and took out the eighth-mile ET reflector. Very abrupt and crisp burnout from Hans Olav, even Monique Koedam was taken by surprise and cowered. At the hit Hans Olav's motor spluttered, caught again then stopped and he rolled to a halt just after the eighth. Roman launched OK but then the motor note ran down and eventually stopped. Absolute stormer of a run from Roel, picture-perfect, front wheel up, tiny bit of fishtailing, probably one of the best Supertwin runs I have ever seen. Into #1 spot, well done Roel, Ton and Vincent! Samu was off the throttle by half track, nothing obviously wrong. Nice fishtailing launch for Lo, shut off a touch early by the look of things, Job's motor was hesitating around half track but he's safely in the ladder. Qualifying after this session:
18:00 UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Martin Newbury 7.638/276.94 bye; Elvira Karlsson no time DQ (bye); Charalambos Bousinis 7.571/282.70, Kerl-Heinz Weikum no time; Stavros Svrachnos 7.469/277.72, Gert-Jan Laseur 7.577/279.39; Martin Bishop 7.555/237.72, Kalle Lyrén 7.329/290.80; Jesper Thiel 7.172/300.00, Rasmus Olesen 7.158/300.41; Fredrik Fredlund 7.180/302.25 bye Everyone in the ladder for round one as we are running a sixteen-bike field here this weekend. Another improvement for Martin N but he stayed in place. Big cheer for Elvira's screaming burnout but then she took the shine off it a bit by taking out the eighth-mile reflectors after the bike drifted to the right. Motor sounded to be up on the limiter between the second and third shifts. Reflectors replaced, the VW camper used by the Tech Crew took the 594 foot reflector with it as it drove away so another quick replacement operation was carried out. Karl-Heinz' motor cut out at the hit, in the other lane a consistent pass from Charalambos, no improvement but close to his best this weekend. Into the 7.4s and up one place for Stavros, in the other lane Gert-Jan's motor hesitated momentarily off the line robbing him of ET. No improvement for either Martin B or Kalle, Kalle's speed was cleared from the screen before I could catch it - I'll ask for a look at the run log later. Very consistent passes for Jesper and Rasmus, Jesper missed backing up the speed record again but plenty more opportunity yet. Another 7.1 for Fredrik but looked and sounded like the slick spun at the hit so lost a moment there. Qualifying after this session:
17:15 FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Micke Kågered 5.123/405.18 bye; Jari Halinen 13.517/109.95, Risto Poutiainen 5.777/264.46; Urs Erbacher 5.150/453.28 bye; Anita Mäkelä 4.926/473.13, Thomas Nataas 4.839/492.20 Micke on the bump going in to this session and not necessarily safely in the ladder. Good run to half track then flame started to appear from the motor, not unlike Andy Carter this morning Micke's motor carried on running with the fire getting bigger and bigger then the blower belt departed the car in the last couple of hundred feet. An impressive ET considering, that run good enough to put Micke in tomorrow's ladder. Problems starting for Jari in the last chance saloon, using Risto's starter to fire it up whilst Risto pulled his burnout. Brief burnout by Jari and hard on the brakes to get back so as not to keep Risto waiting. Jari's tyres up in smoke at the hit and a discreet bang, he shut off and is spectating tomorrow. Good run for Risto to just before the eighth when his tyres went up in smoke and he shut it off as the car made a move to the left. Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs gunning for #1, but header flames green on one side at the launch and at least one cylinder out all the way. Improvement for Urs, but he stayed in #7, a consistent set of runs by though and that can win races. fantastic race between Anita and Thomas, clean runs for both with all the candles lit all the way, both improving their ETs but both staying in position. Thomas' speed converts to 305.84 mph. Qualifying after this session:
Kenni Neergaard 5.144/411.40 bye For reasons to which your reporter is not privy Kenni Neergaard's run against Stig disappeared from the qualifying list after session 3. Kenni ran out of turn here and Race Director Jerry Lackey has just been in to explain that Kenni is still licencing - not sure why he ran against Stig earlier since licencing runs are meant to be singles. Whatever, fantastic run for Kenni to kick his Personal Best into next week, motor started to smoke in the second half and the car disappeared behind the smoke as it went through the finish line. The top end camera showed Kenni getting the chutes out and the car stopped safely. 16:55 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Esko Raisvuo 6.829/392.52 bye; Paul Ingar Udtian 5.515/412.26, Derek Flynn 6.786/224.28; Dennis Habermann 5.520/414.69 bye; Timo Habermann 5.393/418.61 bye; Fred Hanssen 5.402/423.26, Dave Wilson 5.445/420.39 Esko's motor left the line with dropped cylinders again, sounded to be misfiring in the first half but visibly picked up some speed in the second eighth - it was as if someone had hit fast-forward on a video. Esko spectating tomorrow unless one of the top eight breaks. Superb run by Paul Ingar, new PB according to the timing system, well done Paul Ingar! Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek a candidate for Driving Job of the Weekend as the Gold RV dragster started to move about its lane and then took a pretty hard left at just about half track. Derek off the throttle at that point and got it straight. Paul Ingar one place up the ladder, Derek remained eighth. Dennis next up on a bye, trying to get his place back from Paul Ingar, didn't quite manage it but a very consistent pass. Great run by Timo to take second spot, superb wheels-up launch and 0.912 sixty foot time. Grumpy v Fred again by dint of their qualifying form. The ever eagle-eyed Spencer Tramm sat next to me noticed that Fred's tuner Will Hanna had oddly-matched shoes on - one black with red trim and one all black. Will probably has another pair like it back in the pits too. Superb match-up again, Fred visibly moved first, neither seemed to hit any shake, I was convinced that two 5.3s would come up on the boards - the runs looked a lot quicker than the ETs which appeared. Fred with the bigger speed again, unusual to see an A/Fuel car beaten on terminal speed. Qualifying after this session:
16:35 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Jürgen Nagel 6.279/335.95 bye; Jarmo Kuuntniemi 6.187/265.26, Arvid Grødem 7.295/159.04; Ulf Leanders 9.346/120.67, Danny Bellio 7.862/172.56; Much more like it from Jürgen, a good-looking pass until just after half track when the motor started to smoke and Jürgen shut it off. Pro Stock-style game of Burnout Chicken between Jarmo and a crew member about 100 feet out, the crew member stepped out of the way right at the last moment...far be it from me to suggest that Jarmo was having a little game and pointed the car at him. Looked like Jarmo lost some time to shake after a pedestrian RT, shut off in the last few feet. Arvid was on a storming pass with a 0.9-second sixty foot time when at half track - you know what I'm going to say, don't you: the Burst Panel Demon caught up with Arvid again, big bang, off the throttle and 'chute out. If there is a record for the most- and furthest-travelled bonnet relief panel in Top Methanol FC then Arvid has the #1 plate. Next up, Ulf on European ET and speed records. Guess he'll have to do it next time - awful shake between the Tree and and 300 feet and he shut off. Danny off the throttle in the other lane also, from here looks like shake marks in his lane. Qualifying after this session:
16:05 FIA Pro Modified qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Jürgen Schomann shut off (bye); Robert Koper 6.632/349.35, Peter Ritscher 6.783/350.42; Marco Maurischat 7.031/360.12, Tami Brander 6.224/374.20; Rolf Ammann 6.582/349.63, Robert Joosten 6.246/372.78; Linda Thun Tønseth 6.892/277.57, Adam Flamholc 6.274/377.05; Jan Gunnarsson 6.273/374.20, Roger Johansson 6.272/366.80; Marc Meihuizen 6.179/371.06, Norbert Kuno 9.423/188.59; Mats Eriksson 6.128/382.16, Bruno Bader 8.919/163.83; Urban Johansson 6.210/369.42 bye, Andy Robinson shut off; Johan Lindberg 6.116/382.83 bye; Jürgen pulled a 300-foot burnout but then shut off on his return. First and second alternates up next, Peter with not much to do to get into the ladder. Huge, evil twitch from Peter's car when he got off the burnout - for a moment there he was headed for the guardrail. OK, what do I know - it was Robert K who got in at #16, Peter sounded to lose time to a long shift. Tami having been bumped out by Robert K was next up. Eurodragster.com sponsor Marco rolled the beams which added a lot to his ET, that was a good-looking run too. Tami pulled out the big one when it mattered, blasting his way into the top sixteen and wouldn't be bumped whatever happened next. Marco now on the bump. Lots of consternation with a crew member leaning into Robert J's cockpit before he staged. Whatever it was, they sorted it as Robert blasted a 6.2 and moved up a spot, we think a PB, if so then well done Robert! Lots of clutch dust from Rolf's Coupe and a consistent pass with his previous best. Linda's tyres didn't really light on the burnout. Didn't hurt the launch but the car just looked to ru out of puff in the second half. In the other lane an improvement for Adam but he stayed in place. Jan and Roger both did such long burnouts and went so far that it was all quiet from Race Control and for a moment I thought both had shut off until I saw them coming back. Would have been side-by-side but for Jan's RT which will likely be given to him on a calendar rather than a timing slip, good run though which moved him back above Adam. Consistent run for Roger, clean run with no sign of shake. Slight improvement for Marc but stayed in place, Norbert's tyres shook and his motor zinged, he was off the throttle about 150 feet out likely with a cracking headache. Another 6.1 for Mats, you have to look at some of these guys who are clicking off more or less the same run each time as favourites this weekend. Bruno was right with Mats off the line but the Vette started to move for the centre line and he shut it off about 400 feet out. Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy lost his blower burst panel in the burnout with a huge thumping noise, had to be pushed back. Urban took the bye, a touch off his previous best but a good clean pass with no hint of shake or spin. Johan closed the session with a bye, no sign of Micke Gullqvist who never usually misses a session, hopefully not indicative of a bad problem. Johan lost a small amount of time to shake which moved the Bird around its lane a little, you could hear it in the engine note too. 6.577 bump spot then, but check out all those 6.2s. Qualifying after this session:
16:00 Simon has posted a set of pit notes which you can check out via the Event Index page. FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Ulf Wagnhester 7.811/184.85 bye; Conrad Stanley 7.036/316.15 bye; Micke Callin 6.758/330.83, Sampsa Palos shut off; Richard Sundblom 6.767/330.43, Jonas Dantanus 6.833/317.30; Thomas Lindström 6.756/328.58, Jan Palmqvist 6.830/326.56; Jimmy Ålund 6.734/330.73 Michael Malmgren 6.769/330.38 Another bye for Ulf, had to find 0.1 to get into tomorrow's field. Nice wheels up launch but shut off and put the chutes out at the eight, he will be spectating tomorrow. Conrad looking for about 0.15 to play tomorrow, not enough to get in but you can't blame him for not thrashing a borrowed motor. Sampsa shut off and was pushed back after the burnout. Micke took the bye, up into third place with what the timing system says is a new PB, well done Micke! Big cheer for Nixxon's 150-foot burnout. Very consistent runs for Nixxon and Dante, thousandths off their previous bests, both stayed in place. 200-foot burnout by Thomas much appreciated by the crowd. Consistency in the next pair especially from Thomas, one suspects that race day set-ups are being checked out by those comfortably in the ladder. A classic rivalry revisited in the final pair, would we see one of Michael and Jimmy's famous burndowns? No, but we saw one of Jimmy's famous first departures, straight shake-free run to consolidate his top spot. Improvement by Michael too but stayed in place. Qualifying after this session:
15:35 Supertwin Top Gas qualifying top five after session 2
Junior Dragster qualifying top five after session 3 Jessica Gantenbein the latest to have a tilt at the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award in taking #1 spot.
15:10 Comp Eliminator qualifying top five after session 2
Super Street Bike qualifying top five after session 2
14:45 UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Steve Woollatt 6.651/299.13 bye; Jaska Salakari no time, Kai Selkämäa 7.340/305.52; Peter Svensson 6.018/367.05 bye Steve's motor didn't want to stay lit upon starting, then the tyre didn't light on the burnout. Track pretty warm though so maybe it wouldn't matter. Indeed it didn't, nice run and into third place, sounded to shut off a touch early. One-handed burnout by Jaska, waving to the photographers..."Look, one hand! Look, no teeth", thankfully not. No drive at all for Jaska at the hit, just lots of smoke and the bike moved about a yard. Improvement for Kai, straight pass although sounded like a soft tune-up, moved him up a place above Ian King. Fantastic run for Peter, straight down the lane with front wheel high in the air, a little fishtail but no problem at all, smashed the track record again! Well done Peter and Sören! We won't be seeing Petri Paljakka again until tomorrow, he has engine damage and will be staging for points. Qualifying after this session:
14:35 UEM Supertwin qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Petri Mattsson 9.179/291.74 bye; Samu Kemppainen 7.213/319.03 bye; Roel Koedam shut off, Christian Jäger 7.639/320.25 bye Joachim Riemer 8.390/197.11 bye; Lorenz Stäuble 8.742/174.90 bye; Job Heezen 15.300/111.42, Roman Sixta 7.439/296.57; Hans Olav Olstad 6.731/329.13, Per Bengtsson 6.678/335.02 Petri's motor hesitated off the line and the bike went a little out of shape, Petri lost a fair bit of time to that and was then feathering the throttle all the way down. Improvement for Samu and that was with a very slight hesitation off the line, Samu in the ladder at that point. Roel has announced his retirement at the end of this season so we lose another legend alongside Grumpy Wilson. The motor cut out during the burnout and Roel pushed back. Could Christian end the nightmare? Yes and no - a much better ET but the tyre was up in smoke off the line and Christian had to feather the throttle at which point the bike twitched and tried to throw him off. Christian held on to it literally and figuratively, a lot closer to making the ladder now. Good-looking run to start with for Joachim, but the motor went quiet at the eighth with just a brief stab in the second half. Lo's front wheel didn't want to come down and the bike didn't want to go straight, needless to say Lo styayed with it until the motor went quiet at half track. Not a good run for Job, the motor spewing fuel - I am guessing a broken fitting as the exhausts are at the back of the saddle. New Personal best for Roman Sixta, very nice straight run down the middle of the lane, well done Roman! Supertwin pairing of the weekend to close the session, Hans Olav and Per side-by-side all the way, both on the throttle all the way, both bikes fishtailing very slightly as is the way of Supertwins but both had it covered. Per up into #1 spot, Hans Olav improved but stayed in place. Qualifying after this session:
14:20 UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Len Paget 7.954/258.42 bye; Kalle Lyrén 7.520/289.91, Martin Bishop 7.464/289.02; Martin Newbury 7.755/249.84, Elvira Karlsson 7.918/266.70; Gert-Jan Laseur 7.433/279.04, Charalambos Bousinis 7.675/283.74; Anders Abrahamsson 8.733/227.23, Stavros Svrachnos 8.315/208.32; Karl-Heinz Weikum 7.599/286.39, Jesper Thiel 7.170/298.31; Rasmus Olesen 7.108/306.08, Fredrik Fredlund 7.159/301.70 Len's motor was screaming on the start line, didn't sound quite right, slight improvement but stayed in place. Martin B left Eurodragster.com Blogger Kalle for dead off the line, Kalle lost some form from yesterday but Martin stepped up and moved up to fifth spot a that point. Slight improvment for Martin N but stayed in place, Elvira in the other lane lost a bit from yesterday. Gert-Jan up a couple of places with a nice-looking and sounding pass, Charalambos left for dead off the line and looked to lose some time at the start. Anders and Stavros way off yesterday's form, both shut off way before the stripe. Jesper's first chance to back up the speed record, didn't make it but moved up the ladder with an improved pass, back into the 7.1s. No improvement for Karl-Heinz. Great match between Rasmus and Fredrik, Rasmus even quicker to consolidate his #1 spot and hundredths off the speed record. Consistent pass for Fredrik, stayed in #2. Qualifying after this session:
14:05 FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Stig Neergaard 4.881/429.62, Kenni Neergaard 6.303/226.54; Micke Kågered 7.159/196.15, Andy Carter 5.431/342.14; Risto Poutiainen 5.056/359.88, Jari Halinen 7.973/158.88; Timo Lehtimäki 5.088/439.00, Urs Erbacher 5.635/306.43; Thomas Nataas 4.858/483.01, Anita Mäkelä 5.269/339.84 There's a first time in Europe, father and son side-by-side in Top Fuel Dragster so I gues Kenni has his licence now. So in whose lane would John Smith be? The answer was Stig's. Lots of smoke from the left bank of Stig's motor going into stage. That was a great race to begin with, Kenni got the slight jump on Stig but they were pretty much side-by-side, but then it looked as if Kenni's blower belt broke at the eighth. Stig looked to shut it off soon after 1000 feet but an improvement to consolidate his #1 spot. Good launches from both Micke and Andy, Micke hit shake past the Tree and pedalled a couple of times then shut it off. Meanwhile there was smoke and flame from Andy's motor at half track, motor still running, but then a big fire at about 1000 feet. Track checked and all seemed OK, and Andy into the ladder at that point. Next pair both from the Rune Fjeld Motorsport stable. Jari hit shake a couple of hundred feet out and shut it off, Risto was on a storming pass but from the car's behaviour it looked as if the blower belt broke just after the eighth, a twitch and smoke from the headers. Jari into the ladder at that point, Kenni bumped out. Urs had more than a car length on Timo off the line, Timo left the line with a cylinder out on the left side, looked to stay with it pretty much all the way, off it maybe 1200 feet out. Urs' tyres went up in smoke about 300 feet out, he stayed with it for a moment and then got off the gas after the eighth. TJ Jr on the start line with Thomas and the Andersens, the rumour about his being abducted by aliens also rubbish then. Fantastic run for Thomas, small amount of smoke from the motor off the line but it cleared, the car just got up and went until about 1000 feet where the left side header flames burned green, burning a gasket I guess. Into #1 spot and our first 300 mph run this weekend. Anita speeding along too but just before the eighth her tyres started to haze and then blaze and she shut it off. Qualifying after this session:
13:40 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Krister Johansson 29.907/175.53, Esko Raisvuo 6.812/376.14; Derek Flynn 9.990/89.24, Paul Ingar Udtian 5.585/411.79; Dennis Habermann 5.525/417.72 bye; Peter Schöfer 5.450/415.25, Timo Habermann 5.418/419.74; Dave Wilson 5.475/421.04, Fred Hanssen 5.549/400.70 Krister's tyres went up in smoke at the hit and then there was a bang and a huge ball of flame from the motor about 100 feet out and he rolled along the track on momentum stopping past the finish line. Track was clean though. Esko left the line with a couple of cylinders out on the left side and a very rough-sounding motor, the cylinders never cleared all the way down. Appreciative cheers from the crowd for the burnouts by Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek and Paul Ingar. Shake for Derek, off the throttle about 250 feet out and a chute deployed. No mistake for Paul Ingar, without a time on the board before this run after the burst panel incident yesterday, but straight in at number four with a stormer for a baseline pass. Paul's fourth place lasted one run as Dennis took it over from him, managed to catch his sixty foot time which was 0.966, no sign of shake, very nice pass and looked to be really speeding in the second half. Great pair of runs for Peter and Timo, both in the 0.9s to sixty feet and looked pretty much welded together all the way down. Timo found 0.2 and moved up to third, Peter improved slightly but stayed in place. Minor clean-up in Peter's lane. Front wheels up, down then up again for Grumpy, shake about 100 feet out - maybe the rear end unloaded - Grumpy stayed with it but some time lost. Fred was right there with Grumpy and looked to be picking up in the second half but there was smoke from one bank of headers and then a bigger puff just before the stripe. Maybe the blower belt, it was that kind of behaviour from the car, but if so then the belt stayed with the car. Qualifying after this session:
13:15 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Dezsoe Krivan 6.258/375.04 bye; Arvid Grødem no time, Jürgen Nagel no time; Danny Bellio 5.860/387.89, Ulf Leanders 5.684/409.38; Rob Turner 6.090/383.24, Jarmo Kuutniemi 5.891/393.44 Eurodragster.com sponsor Deszoe opened the session, from here the launch looked a bit gentle robbing Dez of some time, the car got into a bit of a bounce in the second half and you could hear the motor reacting to it. Some smoke from the motor at the stripe but track all OK. Improvement but stayed in place. Next pair and weirdness on the start line as Arvid left before the Tree ran and then it looked as if Jürgen left when he heard Arvid go, again before the Tree had run. Arvid hit bad shake and then the tyres started to smoke and the FC turned hard left. Clean run for Jürgen to the eighth and then smoke from the motor. Jürgen's crew very upset but the Chief Starter remained impassive. Long, long burnout by Ulf stopping in the eighth-mile speed trap getting him a huge cheer from the crowd. Looked like the Starter thought that Danny was dawdling a bit as he chivvied the crew to get him back from the burnout and then walked in front of the FC and gestured Danny to come forward to stage. Fantastic side-by-side run, Ulf doing the first half of new ET and Speed records even though the FC was bouncing up and down in the second half, well done Ulf and Jürgen! Great run for Danny, too, moved him up to second although he got very close to the guardrail at the top end and looked to have shut off a touch early, top end officials stood by the guardrail scattered as he came close. Consistent run from Jarmo, looked straight from here, very slight improvement for Rob but stayed in place, just the tiniest hint of shake marks off the line in Rob's lane. Qualifying after this session:
12:55 FIA Pro Modified qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Roger Johansson 6.255/364.22, Marcus Hilt 8.754/250.44; Tami Brander 6.650/327.05, Linda Thun Tønseth 6.411/361.13; Jürgen Schomann 7.490/309.93, Jan Gunnarsson 6.348/359.46; Peter Ritscher 6.797/348.39, Mats Eriksson 6.121/376.60; Robert Joosten 6.322/364.96, Robert Koper 6.877/325.58; Adam Flamholc 16.080/80.17, Rolf Ammann 6.597/351.21; Andy Robinson 6.158/374.45, Marco Maurischat shut off; Norbert Kuno 9.155/195.97, Urban Johansson 6.115/375.17; Bruno Bader 6.167/370.43, Marc Meihuizen 6.301/372.72; Johan Lindberg 6.180/382.70, Micke Gullqvist 6.007/390.26 Roger sat and looked at the green for what looked like an eternity, not that it matters in qualifying, looked like the briefest hesitation just off the line but didn't harm the ET too much, catapulted himseld up to the top half of the ladder. Marcus' tyres went up in smoke and he pretty much pulled a second burnout to 330 feet pedalling a couple of times then getting off it. Your reporter spoke to Linda just before the Pro sssion and it sounded to me as if she now felt comfortable in the car and was looking forward to going quicker each run, and go quicker she did blowing her Personal Best into next week again, driving through a hard move in the second half and moving up the list. Some shake for Tami but a big improvement and took over Linda's previous place in the list. Jürgen 0.001 slower than his previous run, that's consistency for you but as things stand nowhere near playing tomorrow. Improvement for Jan having pulled a huge burnout to bring the house down, up one place with a straight shake-free run. Peter left for dead by Mats at the line, Peter's car seemed to bog just for a moment before taking off robbing him of some ET. Mats straight to the eighth, some fishtailing in the second half, slightly quicker than yesterday's best and stayed in third. Robert J had problems burning out for the second session running, didn't hurt him though with a nice pass, the back end of the car firmly planted, the car moving to the left in the second half, a couple of places up the ladder. Improvement for Robert but stayed in place. Very brief burnout for Rolf. Adam's tyres shook very hard and the car made a move to the right passing the Tree so he shut it off. Nice run for Rolf, the Coupe moving left and right at mid-track but he stayed with it. Two Eurodragster.com sponsors next up, Marcus getting a big cheer from the crowd for his burnout but then shut off before staging. As ever Marco was smiling when approached by the TV crew, hopefully nothing serious although the car was stranded on the start line and had to be removed on a flatbed truck so I guess something transmission or rear-end related. Andy took the bye, 0.014 RT, nice run with no sign of shake, straight down the lane and into fourth. I don't know much about track prep nor indeed about tuning Pro Mods but it is noticeable that we are not seeing very much in the way of shake today - nothing other than Grumpy Wilson's famous "Acceptable level of shake". Marco's stricken 'Vette recovered, Norbert and Urban squared off. Norbert sat out at about 300 for an age after his burnout, for a moment we thought he had shut it off. Huge shake for Norbert at the hit just to contradict your reporter, shut off and played no further part. Great run for Urban, I guess he now has to think about Linda catching him up! Up into third with a straight run. No improvements next pair but 0.001 consistency by Bruno in a great side-by-side run with Marc. Both cars drifted a little towards the centre line around 250 feet out but both had it covered no problem and certainly no-one was thinking about getting off the throttle. Fantastic match between Johan and Micke, Micke again ran a three-second eighth which presaged the 6.0. Good run for Johan too but some smoke from the motor in the second half although nothing to worry the track crew which is usually a good sign. Qualifying after this session:
12:10 FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Ulf Wagnhester 6.949/318.70 bye; Conrad Stanley 6.998/315.97, Tommy Leindahl 6.951/322.25; Sampsa Palos 7.020/327.34, Micke Callin 6.802/330.38; Jan Palmqvist 6.806/326.31, Richard Sundblom 6.784/330.78; Jonas Dantanus 6.837/325.38, Jimmy Ålund 6.741/331.89; Michael Malmgren 6.818/327.64, Thomas Lindström 6.777/328.98 Ulf lost fire after the burnout but restarted no problem. Nice run and a new PB, well done Ulf! Still not in the ladder but creeping up on it. Conrad is using a motor borrowed from Tommy Leindahl after engine damage yesterday. Nice side-by-side burnouts had the crowd cheering. Conrad got the jump on Tommy but Tommy reeled him in pretty quickly, improvement for Conrad but stayed in place supporting the rest of the field. Consistent run for Tommy but only one chance left to play tomorrow. Sampsa lost pace from hs previous form, nothing obviously wrong. Good run for Micke, straight and no sign of shake, just a touch off yesterday's form. Fair bit of time spent by Nixxon's team adjusting his wheelie bars before staging. Good side-by-side run between Jan and Nixxon, Jan improved but stayed on station, Richard a tiny bit off yesterday's best run. Jimmy lined up with Thomas next to run in his lane, could Jimmy take the lead away? yes he could! Superb run, classic Pro Stock front left end up past the Tree, straight down the midddle of the lane and up above Thomas. Improvement for Dante good for one place on the ladder. Either of the next pair quite capable of taking the lead back off Jimmy. Not this time though, Thomas got a small jump on Michael, runs reasonably consistent with yesterday's bests but no improvement. Qualifying after this session:
11:50 Super Comp qualifying top five after session 2 0.001 RT by Rene Kloss in the first pair, latest to take a shot at the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award. 0.006 by Noah Stutz next pair.
11:15 Super Gas qualifying top five after session 2
11:10 Super Pro ET qualifying top five after session 2 Jutta Winter and Ove Kröger very close to the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET Award.
10:50 Pro ET qualifying top five after session 2 0.003 RT by Dan Vetterl, first today to take a shot at the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award.
Sam Young followed Pro ET with a 10.307/195.43 demonstration pass in his electrically-powered Beetle. 10:30 Junior Dragster qualifying top five after session 2
09:00 Good morning and welcome from the Rico Anthes Quarter Mile for our coverage of the NitrOlympX brought to you in association with Alamo Rent-A-Car. We think that we have a solution in place for the Webster Race Engineering/Nimbus Motorsport webcam today. The camera will be posting a picture every sixty seconds so long as the track is open. We are subject to a limit on the amount of data we can upload but we should be OK for qualifying and racing but maybe not for the Night Show. But please note, we will only operate the webcam whilst the track is open - right now it isn't. For those sufficiently interested please check below for an explanation of the problems we had with the webcam yesterday. For those who were most strident in their complaints yesterday despite the two explanations in the race report, please send your reporter a Stamped Addressed Envelope and he will steam the stamp off the envelope and on the back of that stamp he will write exactly how much the moaners know about running a webcam, and how much they know about running a webcam here, and send it back to them. To those who actually had the courtesy to write and ask, thanks for your consideration. We had a short but sharp shower a while back but the track crew are well advanced on the job of drying the track. From my seat in Race Control it looks as if the shutdown area is again receiving the most attention. A few Good Mornings, firstly to our good friend Ivar Kolberg who never fails to tune in to our Event Coverage. Hope you are enjoying the coverage Ivar. Good morning also to Robert Nordlund who wrote yesterday with a helpful suggestion, thanks very much Robert and hope that you are likewise enjoying the coverage. A big Hello also, with added hugs, to our dear friend Gittli Koller who is tuned in from Bavaria with Michael and Mamma. Hello Mamma, hope you have a good weekend. We are doing manual reporting this weekend so the plan for is again to track the top fives in Sportsman classes and the complete fields in Pro classes. We must say a big Thank You to the timing crew, particularly Yasin who has had more than one good idea to make it easier for us to keep up with the results in real time. Thanks very much Yas, we owe you one - we'll add it to all the others. Thanks also to PiPPi and Robin Jackson who got in touch with useful information regarding Personal Bests and other news. We are looking for a 10:00 start so stay tuned and as soon as the first pair fire up we'll put on the webcam and start to bring you all the news. An explanation of the webcam problems Firstly note from our Event Coverage schedule that the NitrOlympX was not going to have a webcam at all. However, yesterday morning we got permission from the organisers and Hockenheimring management to run a webcam in snapshot (sixty-second) mode. This was a kind gesture for which we were very grateful. The snapshot webcam is running off the race report laptop; the proper live webcam requires a powerful tower PC which can't be carried on a flight and if it could it would be pointless since a full live webcam service was not going to happen. Your reporter is inside the commentary booth, which is the upper of two converted shipping containers - it can be seen in some of yesterday's pictures. He is using wireless because there is no cable; the wireless router is downstairs and the signal has to get through the roof of one shipping container (Race Control) and the floor of the other (Commentary). The wireless signal is rated by the race report laptop as "Very low" and yesterday dropped out very frequently, quite often when it was in the middle of uploading a webcam snapshot. Your reporter tried very hard to do something about this but just has too much else to do: with no link to the timing system he is doing the qualifying standings manually in real time as well as the commentaries in the race reports and there are only so many things he can do at once especially whilst tied to his desk and having to watch every pair in its entirety. The Tech Crew and the media team here at the Hockenheimring have gone out of their way to help us and we could not wish for better service from them. Eurodragster.com has a 3G stick but it is expensive to use abroad and has a daily data limit, after which it gets really expensive, and the webcam would bust that limit in a matter of hours. If we were to continue to be able to post results yesterday we had to switch to the 3G stick so we had to stop the webcam. If we can do anything we will, but we are of the opinion that getting results to our readers quickly is more important than a webcam we were not expecting to use anyway and whose unavailability we had advertised in advance. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |