So here is the report from my son Roope's first experiment with our now N/A altered. Fridays test day was almost disaster. First run was just trial to see everything works and that car goes straight and to get to used it's behaviours. 19.313 / 119,47 km/h. After the run car stalled to return strip and didn't start again. After awhile it started again and Roope was able to drive it to the pit area. We fired the engine again and again it stalled after warming to 179F. Another try and same result. It fires after cooling awhile and stalls at about 180F. Conclusion, it's either the coil or condensator. Coil is new Bosch quality part and condensator is the one that was there when I bought the old 1955 or 1956 distributor. Hmmm...maybe it's the old 6V condensator and it's not suitable for drag racing with 12V coil... No parts onboard, so I had to drive 75 kilometers to nearest parts store from where I found new LADA (USSR car) condensator and spare coil also. In fact I bought two condensators as they were 6 euros each. Then I drove back to pits. That trip took so long that I was back at track 20 minutes before driving time was over. I called my son to dress up to his driving suit and he was ready to jump in the car when I arrived. I quickly put the condensator to it's place and we fired up the engine and Roope drove straight to line up. We had about 7 minutes left and starter called us immediately to the burn out slot. And he went 12.975 / 169,78 km/h! No issues with engine. That was the test day.
Saturday and qualifications. We managed to drive six rounds in all classes and the day was hot for Finns. 28 degrees celsius all day and clear blue sky. We did some carb tuning for every round and added more fuel for Demon 650 dp. We started from 68 in front and 74 at the back and ending to run 82 jets in both of them. Time slips got better and better each time we added fuel. 12.934 / 168.95, 12.586 / 171.59, 12.408 / 177.91, 12.145 / 180.71, 12.113 / 178.57 and 12.086 / 181.02 km/h. Best 60 ft was 1.764 seconds and best R/T was .044. So, last three runs were very close to 12.00 and good dial in for Sundays eliminations would of course be 12.00? Right?
But no, we are here to make new personal records and go as fast as possible. We opted to put 11.80 on sides of the altered as the weather would be cooler in the morning. And in the morning, wind was blowing in the direction that would boost us to new record. And no, it didn't go that way! We lost in the first round with 12.123 / 178.97 km/h. Thus Roope took better reaction than opponent. But hey! That's bracket racing! For the next event in three weeks, we are going to change torque converter from 5000 rpm ( good with 975 hp twin turbo engine) to 2500 rpm unit to better suite that N/A low horse power engine. Let's see how that will do. We want to go to elevens for sure...
Seppo from Järvenpää, Finland
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