Our racing season has started, in case you missed it.
Unfortunately, we haven't had time to update the website. So, this will be a longer update. We hope you have the patience to read it all.
Let's start from the beginning.
The Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England.
At the end of May, we were at Santa Pod Raceway in England for the Main Event, which is the first race of the European Drag Racing Championship.
After the first day of qualifying, we were the number two qualifier with a 5.914-second pass, behind David Vegter's 5.876.
After the second day of qualifying, we slipped down to fifth place, as Marck Harteweld ran a 5.871, Michel Tooren ran a 5.885, and Andres Arnover ran a 5.904.
We found it difficult to tune the car for the track conditions. We had a very hard time getting the right amount of wheelspin right off the starting line. This is crucial. If you don't have the right wheel speed in the first few tenths of a second, you often get what's called tire shake further down the track. The tires start to vibrate and the car can swerve, which can be very dangerous if the driver doesn't lift off the throttle fast enough. In this case, we changed the gearing in the transmission and gave the engine more power by advancing the ignition timing. Normally, we can't launch with full timing; we have to pull power out to get the right amount of wheelspin.
Despite this, we struggled to get the right wheelspin during qualifying.
On race day, we got a bye run in the first round. David Smith, who we were supposed to face, had damaged his engine during qualifying. This gave us a chance to make another test pass, knowing we would advance to the next round regardless. However, the test didn't go as planned, as Mats had some trouble at the start and the car couldn't perform as intended.
In the quarterfinals, we faced Andres Arnover from Estonia. Prior to this event, he had jump-started his season at another race where he ran Europe's fastest time in our class, a 5.69.
Arnover had also had issues during the weekend and had to change his torque converter. This resulted in him spinning the tires too much further down the track, and Mats managed to drive past him to win with a time of 5.938 to Arnover's 6.666.
At this point, we felt we were starting to get a better handle on things and looked forward to the semifinal against the number one qualifier, Harteweld, who had run a 5.891 in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, it started to rain, and the event was later called off. The race weekend simply ended there. It was very disappointing, as we felt we could have beaten Harteweld in the semifinal, but we never got the chance to find out. That's the downside of drag racing—we can't race on a wet track, as it's far too dangerous.
So, after the weekend, we are in an honorable third place in the European Drag Racing Championship after the first of four events. The next European Championship race will be on August 8-10 at Tierp Arena in Sweden. So, you'll have a chance to come and see us there.
Jr. Training Camp, Hudiksvall Raceway, Sweden.
We barely got home from England before we were off to Hudiksvall Raceway in Sweden. We didn't bring the Pro Mod car with us, though. Instead, we borrowed a Jr. Dragster from Sundsvall Raceway. Mats' grandson, who is LG's son, Alfred, was at the Jr. Training Camp—a camp exclusively for kids and their parents. The whole Hillborg family drove up on Friday evening. On Saturday, there was a briefing and a "track walk," where they talked about procedures on the track: from starting the engine, launch procedures, walking the track, safety, and much more. Then the kids started driving. Alfred, who had never driven a vehicle with pedals before, did exceptionally well. This was despite the car not rolling forward on its own at idle, requiring him to use both the gas and brake pedals simultaneously while staging the car. Very impressive for a 7-year-old who, as mentioned, had no prior experience with pedals. Carrots, physical training, and lunch were on the schedule before the kids got to drive again. At the end of the day, Alfred also rode a motorcycle on the track. He was skilled at this too, having more experience from riding motocross. The kids also got to play with bikes and use their feet at the starting line to see how the "Christmas tree" reacted. It's very important to gain an understanding of this.
The next day, Alfred didn't make as many runs, as he was tired from the day before. Most of the kids were tired, so there wasn't much more driving in general. It was time to pack up and head home. It really takes a toll to be so focused and drive a race car as much as these kids did. The result was a total of 20 passes for Alfred with the dragster and motorcycle. That's the equivalent of many race meets to get that much seat time when you're going for a license. Alfred also earned his Jr. Dragster license and a Jr. Drag Bike license. Several of the other kids were also making their license runs, while some who already had licenses took the opportunity to practice and, above all, gain more knowledge. Other family members also got to participate and learn. Younger siblings also got to play and make new friends. A very successful weekend with new licenses and new acquaintances. So, after this, the plan is to build a Jr. Dragster this winter and get more involved in the Junior Dragracing association.
Speedevents International, Tierp Arena, Sweden.
After Hudiksvall, there was a motocross race for Alfred, and then it was time to work on the Pro Mod car, as we had received some more parts. Since we don't have a European Championship race until August, we decided to try out some new parts at the Tierp event in June.
Different cylinder heads, supercharger, and injector hat. Then we went to Tierp Arena for Speedevents International. With these new parts, we had to start cautiously. We kept the same gearing from England and gave the engine more fuel to prevent it from running too lean and damaging the engine. We thought the wheels would spin more with that gearing, but the opposite happened; we had too little spin, and the tires started to shake. The launch was simply too good here as well. We made adjustments, but the spin was still too low in the second qualifying round. Mats, being a skilled driver, "pedaled" the car. He lifted off the throttle for almost two seconds—not completely, but enough to settle the car and get it pointed straight again before he could go full throttle. This resulted in a 6.316-second pass, and we were in the fourth qualifying spot. The qualifying position wasn't that important here, as all cars qualify for this event, and we are not running for points in the series this event is part of. You also get points for each qualifying pass based on performance. We normally run a 16-car ladder in Pro Mod. If there are more cars, those qualifying lower than 16th don't make the field. But the important thing about Mats pedaling the car was that the engine was at full throttle and reached high RPMs at the finish line, allowing us to evaluate the combustion temperatures. This helps us see if we are giving the engine too much, just enough, or too little fuel. We run on methanol, and with a supercharger, it's crucial to adjust the fuel amount based on the blower's boost and the weather conditions—basically, the amount of oxygen in the air. Now, with different heads, a supercharger, and an injector hat, we had to keep a close eye on this. So, thanks to Mats getting back on the gas, we got more data to analyze. We also have a weather station that we read before each run and a fuel management program to adjust the fuel correctly.
We could see here that the engine was "running rich," meaning too much fuel for the amount of air.
So, for Saturday's first qualifying pass, we had taken out more fuel. Bang, the car launched, straight and smooth with a time of 5.853. However, Mats shifted into second gear too early. Mats is supposed to shift at a specific RPM, and we have a shift light to help him with that. For the second qualifying pass, we were in the left lane, which we had heard was more difficult. More cars were having problems there. Mats launched. It looked good initially, but then it started to shake further down the track than it usually does with tire shake. We saw on the computer afterwards that there was a little too much wheel speed at the start, but the tires then completely lost traction further down the track, even after having full grip. We blamed the left lane, which others had also struggled with. Despite some downtime and cleanups during the day, the organizers saw there was still time left, so we got to make another qualifying run that wasn't previously scheduled. We made small adjustments to avoid too much spin off the starting line. But the same thing happened again. The tires broke loose a bit down the track. It was then we realized it wasn't the left lane's fault, as we were in the right lane this time. You alternate between the right and left lanes to make it fair for everyone. You also switch from day to day. If you run in the right lane in the morning one day, you run in the left lane in the morning the next. In eliminations, the driver with the faster time from the previous round gets lane choice. This issue of losing traction further down, now in both lanes, gave us a bit of a headache. And the next pass is an elimination round—win or go home. What do you do?
Well, you have to analyze the data you've gathered during qualifying, which is always an ongoing process. We had four bad qualifying runs and only one good one, which put us in the number one qualifying spot.
Our summary was that the launch is very good, but both the left and right lanes are worse further down the track. The run where we went fast (5.853) was successful simply because Mats happened to shift too early. This prevented the engine from having enough power to break the tires loose further down the track, which it did on the last two qualifying runs after the 5.853.
So the solution is to take out power, not by lifting off the throttle, but by using other aids like ignition timing.
Because we were the number one qualifier and it wasn't a full 16-car ladder, we got a bye run in the first round. This was a great relief, taking the pressure off in case things didn't go as planned.
The car ran well, and we advanced with a 5.891, which gave us lane choice for the next round.
In the quarterfinals, we were supposed to face Mickael Gullqvist, who was driving Mickael "Husby" Johansson's car. But unfortunately, they broke a connecting rod in the first round, and their race weekend was over.
When it was time for the semifinal, we were just going to do a final fire-up of the engine as we usually do. But the starter motor just spun without engaging the flexplate. Panic. We thought the solenoid was bad. Off with the starter, on with a new one. You have to carry spares in this sport. We pressed the start button, and there was no difference.
We unscrewed the inspection cover on the bellhousing. The flexplate looked intact, everything seemed to be tight. Then we saw that the inner liner in the bellhousing had rotated slightly. That was the problem. The liner's job is to protect the bellhousing if something happens inside; the bolt holding the liner is designed to shear off, allowing the liner to spin and absorb energy. There's a cutout in the liner for the starter motor. But since it had rotated a bit, the starter drive gear was hitting the liner before it could reach the flexplate.
At this point, we gave up. The other Pro Mod cars had already rolled down some time ago, and it's hard to get through the staging lanes. We were scheduled to run in the first pair of our class. But after a while, we heard that the track was completely white with powder. It was a major cleanup. That can take time. So, it was full speed ahead again. We fixed the problem and rolled to the start. They had to make room for us to get by so we could line up first in our class, Pro Modified (ProMod). Here we had to wait a bit longer before it was our turn to run. It ended up being a terribly short burnout, and the car headed towards the wall before stopping. Mats had dropped the steering wheel during the burnout. The steering wheel has a quick-release hub to make it easier and faster to get in and out of the car. So, Mats learned a lesson to double-check that the steering wheel is properly attached. But it added stress for both Mats and the team before the run. We spun the tires too much off the line, so Mats lifted. This could be a combination of a short burnout and the engine running leaner on fuel, thus making more power. We are still in the process of dialing in the fuel tune-up for the new parts. While we were waiting to run, the weather got a bit better for the engine, plus we were taking out fuel on every run. We try to compensate for this by adjusting the timing simultaneously, so we don't have too much power at the launch. Further down the track, we want all the power we can get, which is then mostly controlled by the fuel. The timing is mostly used at the start as a way to limit power. Since we luckily had a bye run in this round, we advanced despite an 18.6-second pass. This did not give us lane choice for the next round against Andreas Arthursson, who ran a 5.993.
We made small adjustments for the semifinal and ran a 5.886 against Arthursson's 6.014, so we advanced to the final.
There, we met Roger Johansson, who had run a 5.897 in his semifinal. That meant we had lane choice in the final. We made further small adjustments for the final. Among other things, we took out more fuel, but the engine apparently didn't like that, as the time was a 5.928 against Roger's 6.098, which gave us the win for the event. We were lucky, as something seemed to happen to Roger's car at the end of the track, and he was lacking top speed. So, this weekend was both tough with tuning and lucky in different ways. But that's part of this sport, and this was a long-awaited victory.
Over and out for this time.
See you again soon.
/ LG Hillborg