![]() As told exclusively to ![]() You can view a documentary series about Adam's racing in the USA and in Europe at www.youtube.com/thecaravantube. Tuesday 8th July: Two for six.
Speaking of runs, I just got back from Alsastaro in Finland. Luckily it didn't rain this time and the competition ran smoothly with a nice track crew and good pace. Unfortunately our team did not do too well this weekend. We ended up in sixth qualifying place and a race against Magnus Hansson in the first round. Of the total six runs we made, we only managed to get down the track in two of them. A few individual mistakes were made but overall it's because we still have problems with the tracks in Europe.
In the elimination round against Magnus my time slip showed 0.92 at sixty feet and approximately 0.150 reaction time. This was obviously not correct, since the sixty foot time was probably more like 1.02 and the reaction time around 0.050. I thought it felt like I left the start line before Magnus, but when you have to let go after 150 metres it doesn't make much difference. There are rumours of Pro Stock becoming a part of the TSDS Scandinavian Points next year, and that
would be awesome as it's something most Pro Stock teams would take part in.
When it comes to the Pro Street car and the Scandinavian Points Cup I am doubting that we will manage to get a top score, as we didn't get any points in Sundsvall since our qualifying run was too fast. The plan was to go to the competition in Piteå (which we're probably still going to) but I am bit reluctant to spend so much time and money on it. I have a hard time "feeling" how fast I am going with the Firebird. The 7.51 run in Sundsvall felt like a 8.5 to me. The car is easy to drive and with the Powerglide you sort of just sit back and enjoy the ride. With the GTO it's different, as it's action from start to finish. You change gears four times in about four seconds and leave the start line with a one second sixty foot time. But I think we've found the right settings to run 7.60-times with the Firebird. Wednesday 2nd July: A Pro Stock racer breaks out. The council in my hometown is changing all the water pipes in my area, which means that I can't store the bus on my driveway. I now have to keep both the cars and the bus in my storage in Vellinge, and it's pretty tight! The best part is that they are not going to be done with the work until October! We recently raced with the Firebird in Sundsvall. I haven't driven it that much before and I was a bit unsure how fast it would go down the quarter mile track. When we were down at the track in Malmö a couple of weeks ago I made a pass with 125 hp nitrous oxide and managed to get a 4.88 time. According to my calculations that would mean a 7.61 run on this track. To be on the safe side I reduced the effect a bit by raising the pressure on the fuel injection. After spending a few hours repairing my Pro-Jacks it was time to make our first pass. It didn't feel like a particularly fast run but the time was 7.51/291 kmh, which meant that I had been driving too fast as the class breakout is at 7.60. It would soon become evident that this would be the only chance to qualify that day. I like going to Sundsvall and the Club there consists of a bunch of nice guys like Nykan and Tommy, but in my opinion there are way too many teams, classes and set times. I know it's difficult to know beforehand how these things will turn out, but I hope they'll try to plan it a bit better next time. On the Sunday it rained and there is nothing you can do about that. What you can do something about though is keeping track of your car. To mess up the track three times in two qualifying runs must be some sort of record. When we finally got the chance to make a second qualifying run and were waiting in line at the track with heavy rain clouds above us this certain Corvette driver managed to mess up the track, so that a forty five minute clean-up was necessary. When they finally were done cleaning the track up, our class was crossed off the list. Finland is coming up soon and there is a lot of work to be done on the GTO. I have the engine back at the workshop and am thinking about maybe disassembling it and look it over. We're also going to put an air bleed-off kit on the bumpers at the back since the track in Finland is quite rough. I plan to go back to the USA this winter to do some test runs with the car (it doesn't rain as much there). If this is actually going to happen I have to sell the GTO and buy Justin Humphreys' '08 GXP, but a lot of thing needs to fall in place if this is going to be possible, such as sponsorship. Wednesday 25th June 2008: Sorting the set-up. With the European Championships in full swing, we recently got back from Santa Pod in the UK, where we competed in Pro Stock. Since this is only our second year in Pro Stock, we've had to put effort into getting some experience quite quickly.
The next trip was in March 2008. This time we were going to do test runs in Valdosta and then try to qualify at the Gatornationals. The whole team came again and it was also first time the film crew travelled with us. I didn't really have any expectations of qualifying, but we made some good runs and learnt a lot. In Valdosta I managed to do a 6.69 run, which was one of my goals with the trip, so overall I was very pleased. Another big reason for going to USA this time was to learn more about Pro Stock and to prepare for the European Championships. We got some great help and advice from Steve Schmidt, Justin Humphreys and Gary Chomiski, together with a bunch of other people there as well. When we got back I took a break from Pro Stock for a little while and focused on work and my family. I also worked some on my other car, a Firebird, in which I will compete in Pro Street this season. Pro Street is a local class here in Scandinavia and which has a break-out of 7.60 seconds.
The test session at Meca did not go as I had hoped. We had some problems with the chassis and in some gears the car was shaking a lot. We only had time to do two runs and I felt a bit worried about going to Santa Pod, not having solved the problem first. It didn't help that I was swamped at work and couldn't make it to Podington the day before the race to do test runs.
Because of bad weather, there were only two qualifying runs and no race at Santa Pod. We really would have needed more runs there, as we had the same problem with the car as in Malmö. It started shaking uncontrollably in third gear and I had to let go on the second run. None of our terminal speeds were anywhere near what I had hoped for. This was very frustrating, as I know the car has so much more in it. The next weekend we tested again here in Malmö and managed to do a couple of good runs. I now think we've fixed the problem and I'm really looking forward to doing some good passes at the Nitro Nationals in Finland at beginning of July. I know that both the team and the car are capable of it. Thursday 11th June 2008: An introduction. I thought I'd start a Blog about my hobby and part time work, drag racing. I have been racing for about fifteen years with different cars in different classes, but the goal was always to compete in Pro Stock, which I have now achieved...
Myself, Adam Flamholc: 36 years old. Part owner of Malmö Motorrenovering, Motorenova and I am also run a trucking company in Malmö. I'm the one driving the Pro Stock car and also in charge of the engine. Michael Carlsson: 45 years old, part owner of Malmö Motorrenovering and Motorenova. Great knowledge in engines, both technically and theoretically. Always eager to learn more. Micke is the one in charge of the clutch on the Pro Stock car. Micke and I have been good friends since the beginning of the 1990s.
Robert Broden: 90 years old (OK, 40 years old) "Robban" works with computer programming, which is something he enjoys a lot . Robban and I are cousins, which means we've pretty much known each other all our lives. Robban is incredibly analytical and likes to ponder over things. Robban is in charge of the electric and computer related stuff with the Pro Stock car. Johan Pripp: 42 years old. Johan owns his own motor company in Motala (JPR). Johan had his own career as a driver. He competed in the Super Comp class for many years and finished off with a season in Competition Eliminator. We got to know each other a few years ago. When we found out that Johan wasn't competing anymore we persuaded him to join our Pro Stock team (which wasn't too hard). Johan always keeps a cool head, which is good as it can get quite hectic out on the track. On the Pro Stock car, Johan is in charge of the transmission and the motor.
In the last few years we have had two Americans join our team: Kevin and Chester Houghtaling, but more about them later. For the last couple of months Caravan Film have been filming our team, cutting together short episodes which can be seen on YouTube. The filming started on our last trip to the US where we raced at the Gatornationals and they will continue to film us during the European Championships this year. All of the episodes can be found at www.youtube.com/thecaravantube. Feature ©Eurodragster.com Glueharbor Dragracing Team web site Back to News page |