Top Methanol Funny Car Review 
European Finals 
The TMFC qualifying and eliminations were always going to be fiercely contested, with Arvid Grødem up against Ulf Leanders, 3 times former champion and always a hard charger, looking to win after his return from a year away from racing.
Equally exciting was the ongoing competition between Rob Turner and Steph Milam to see who could be the first British TMFC into the fives. It was a question that was to be answered at this race. The fact that we had an 8 car field and no byes was also important, with everyone trying hard to achieve a good qualifying position. The TMFCs always suffer more from traction problems and the times and speeds reflect the challenging conditions they experienced.

Day 1 of qualifying opened with Steph Milam, who didn’t manage to join the 5 second club, but Rob Turner did in the second pairing, running 5.9861/237 mph to much excitement from the crew and the crowd. Danny Bellio managed a creditable 5.8587/240 mph and then had a moment of panic when his parachutes shredded in the shutdown area but he got it stopped without incident. Everyone else hit tyreshake, blazed the tyres or did both. In the second session it was Ulf Leanders turn to set the crowd cheering with a 5.8513/204 mph that included the burst panel blowing at 1000 feet, and Rob Turner improved again to a 5.8720/234 mph and Danny Bellio, with fresh parachutes, recorded a 5.7972/243 mph pass even though the car was a bit loose in the last 400 feet.

On Day 2 Rob Turner was unable to improve in the first session, being shut off for a small rain shower and electing not to re-start. Leanders stepped up again to a wild 5.7972/243 mph ride, taking the long way round to the finish and the possible first half of a European ET record, while Dezsoe Krivan ran 6.2384/227 mph and Jürgen Nagel improved to 6.1934/237 mph. Arvid suffered cylinder head damage at the eighth and we didn’t see him again until eliminations. The last session was, once again, dominated by Leanders 5.6539/251 mph. Everyone else had more problems with traction, shake and spinning tyres. Rob Turner had to back off when he got very close to the finish line. Jarmo Kuutniemi had the safety crews in action when his chutes didn’t open and he went into the field, fortunately not suffering any damage in the process. His 6.3214/240 mph was an improvement, but not enough to move him up the ladder.
Eliminations opened with what would be the decider for the European Championship. Leanders vs Grødem, winner take all. When the tree went down Arvid was away first but hit shake and suffered another burst panel blowout. Leanders powered away to take the win and the title for a fourth time. Turner improved again and took his first round win in 3 years against an up-in-smoke Krivan, while Japa Kuutniemi stuck a massive holeshot on Danny Bellio and beat him with a slower time. The last pairing was a close race between Milam and Nagel, who narrowly won over a closing opponent.

The semis paired Leanders and Nagel and once again the holeshot came into play. Nagel ran the faster ET (his best of the weekend), but Leanders reactions won him the race. On the other side of the ladder it was an on-form Rob Turner who easily beat Kuutniemi, who couldn’t repeat his previous round performance and suffered big shake.

The final put the last two men standing, Rob and Ulf, side by side with Rob having the luxury of lane choice. Rob left first, not easy to do against Ulf, and stayed in front as the Leanders car hit some shake and lost the blower belt, handing Rob his first event win for 3 years and a new personal best in the TMFC, which had been almost completely trouble-free all weekend.

Read 2011 methanol funny car champions Leanders Bros Pressrelease here!

Check the full points table under a separate headline!

FIA TOP METHANOL FUNNY CAR RESULTS EUROPEAN FINALS

QUALIFICATION RESULTS
ELIMINATION LADDER

click to open separate documents as pdf - courtesy of TSÍ time keepers and Santa Pod Raceway

QUALIFYING:

ET

MPH

KPH

1

Ulf Leanders

SWE

5.6539

251.81

405.25

2

Danny Bellio

BEL

5.7972

243.81

392.37

3

Rob Turner

GBR

5.8720

234.85

377.91

4

Steph Milam

GBR

6.0795

223.46

359.62

5

Jürgen Nagel

GER

6.1934

237.46

382.15

6

Dezsoe Krivan

CH

6.2384

227.86

366.71

7

Jarmo Kuutniemi

SF

7.1606

No speed

8

Arvid Grødem

NOR

8.6847

68.17

109.71

Round 1:
Ulf Leanders 5.9140/241.12 def. Arvid Grødem 10.2764/54.61
Rob Turner 5.8595/241.05 def. Dezsoe Krivan 10.3050/92.37
Jarmo Kuutniemi 5.9191/241.59 def. Danny Bellio 5.8607/243.74
Jürgen Nagel 6.5557/225.86 def. Steph Milam 6.8320/228.96

Round 2:
Ulf Leanders 5.9812/225.63 def. Jürgen Nagel 5.9080/244.08
Rob Turner 5.8359/242.42 def. Jarmo Kuutniemi 8.3221/128.34

Final
Rob Turner 5.8090/236.05 def. Ulf Leanders 7.0907/130.57

Low Elapsed Time of the Meet:   5.637 seconds – Ulf Leanders
Top Speed of the Meet:   249.19 mph / 401.03 kph – Ulf Leanders



The European Finals runner-up and European Champion 2011 Ulf Leanders with the event winner
Rob Turner - well done!


Text: Dave Alexander
Photos: Remco Scheelings

This article is part of the Speedgroup Club Europe Newsletter #15/2011

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