FIA Top Methanol Dragster - Fred
Hanssen
Will Hanna , tuner and crew chief for Fred Hanssen
answers as Hanssen is busy working at sea for the time
being
Now with the European Finals one month behind us, how do you
feel about the season 2011? Any highlights or mishaps in particular you
come to think about ?
The highlight would obviously be winning
our first championship. Aside from that, Tierp was also our first
‘real’ win. We got the trophy in Hockenheim last year, but we didn’t
get to really win it by winning the final round. That was a big deal
for us. Finland was big because we battled back, got the win and the
low e.t. points in the final. The low point was Hockenheim.
When the bolt that the clutch linkage pivots on bent, it made the car try
to roll through the beams and we lost first round. Wilson went to
another final.
Luckily we were in position at the Euro Finals that we just
needed to take care of our business and win the race and we could win the
championship. We didn’t need to press or get outside of our
program. We went back to our bread and butter set up and the car
responded. The way qualifying panned out, we ended up No. 1 and
Wilson was No. 5, so if we hung on to low e.t. points, we were tied and
now the pressure was on Wilson. I exercised our right to be last
pair in first round as No. 1 qualifier. That way I knew the
situation going into our run. Wilson smoked the tires, so we needed
to win the round to clinch. Nothing against our opponent Oliver
Azzopardi, but I was willing to take my chances if we got to the finish
line under power, we were going to take the win light. So I went
back and made some last minute adjustments to make sure nothing stupid
happened. It worked out better than I thought and ran a 5.40 again,
clinching the championship.
We had to run our team mate Paul Ingar Udtian in the
semi’s. With the championship in the bag, and maybe a little on
‘tilt,’ I tried to rotate the earth off it’s axis a little and really
hopped it up. It shook pretty bad, but luckily for us, Paul was
trying to do the same and smoked the tires. In the final against
Timo, I calmed it back down wanting to get the win. A parachute came
out early, but Timo had us beat anyway.
Other than that I am really happy with the progress Fred made
as a driver and the progress the crew made this year. Fred is really
a machine in the cockpit, and that’s all you can ask for as a Crew
Chief/Tuner. This crew really rose to the occasion several
times. In Finland, we dropped a valve in the first round and we had
the car back together with time to spare. After we clinched the
championship in the first round in Santa Pod, we broke a camshaft
Torrington bearing spacer. A really simple cheap part to fix, but
it’s not something you fix between rounds. We changed motors and I
think after being the last pair to run down the track we were first or
second car to warm up. We broke a rocker arm in the semifinals and
changed heads and rockers again with time to spare. The fact that
the car ran as good as it did, won the championship and never had any
problems from something being left loose, etc., is a big testament to the
fine job the crew did in maintaining the car.
What are you up to over the winter
period?
Fred has been fishing almost non-stop since the Euro
Finals. He came in shore just long enough for NRK (Norwegian
National TV) to do a feature spot on his championship, then it was back
out to sea.
What can you can tell us about your plans for the 2012
season?
Stay tuned…
Will Hanna - successful US tuner for Fred Hanssen
FIA Top
Fuel Dragster - Urs Erbacher
We will get back with an article on Urs Erbacher in the next edition. If you meanwhile wish to read what he had to tell after the European Finals win in september please check out the winners interview in the edition #15
FIA Pro Modified -
Michael Gullqvist
