Speedgroup Club Europe

The 2014 FIA Round One Event (which used to be called “The Main Event”) began with pretty poor weather forecasts. The weekend before the event was glorious with excellent sunshine and a hot sticky track, however the weather Gods didn’t seem to understand that we wanted to go racing. The teams began to arrive on Thursday through the worst storm England has seen in 50 years. Hail and extremely heavy rain produced some spectacular puddles in the pits, but the forecast was ever changing and we did hope to race, our fears were partially realised as Friday sportsman qualifying was rained off at around 3pm.

Ålund

Jimmy Ålund has had what may be called an “interesting” off season, driving Greg Anderson’s car in the NHRA Pro Stock championship, and along the way becoming the most successful European racer in the NHRA. Jimmy has been literally burning the candle at both ends. The day job does not go away just because you are being the “Speedy Swede” in the USA. It is a reminder that pro racing is a huge drain on time and resources when Jimmy tells me that he has just about caught up at work before he has to take another week out to come to Santa Pod.

Thomas Lindström, set the track record at Malmo in preparation for this event. He hopes the changes they have made to the car for 2014 will take him all the way with Jimmy this year. In 2014 the Ernyrd cars Dodge was fast, but not quite fast enough. They understood well what the gap between them and Jimmy was and talking to the team reveals that they have made some progress toward the consistent 6.5’s that are needed to take the race to Jimmy.

Michael Malmgren has purchased a Gerry Haas built Pontiac GXP race car and also tested in Malmo. Michael was running just 60 ft passes and data gathering runs at Malmo as the team get to understand the new suspension and chassis characteristics, but the 60ft times looked solid enough, and I expect Michael to continue building on his data and increasing his speed whilst lowering the ET’s.

Saturday Q1
All our attempts to go racing on Saturday were foiled by weather. Pro Stock were in the pairing lanes when the heavens opened and we rushed to get the cars turned around and returned to pits. There was some racing on Saturday with an excellent session in Top Methanol and half a Pro Mod session which was ended when Mats Ericsson in the Green Goblin had an incident. Clear up from that was completed in the rain and racing was halted for the day.

Sunday Q1
Sundays weather was warmer and dry, with pretty stable air pressure. The is pretty green though from the lack of running.

Jan leads out Q1. First run of the season and a bye run. From my position on the start line it looked like Jan got up on the tyres well, but the car began to skip slightly in the second half of the track. Jan with an early chute and a 6.92 starts the session.

Next pair is Magnus and Michael, both deliver excellent burnouts but both hit shake and get out of the groove out towards the wall and off the power early before cruising through the line That run was almost synchronised, Magnus went left, Michael went right, both shaking, and both off the power. It seems Magnus had his foot down marginally longer though, as Magnus reaches the line in 9.79 to Michael’s 10.14

Thomas and Jimmy round out this qualifier. And in a reverse of the previous round, both cars move to the centre and hit shake. Both drivers stay with it, and they take the strip in 6.70 and 6.61 respectively

See the full event coverage at Eurodragster.com

RESULTS DATA:
- LINK TO FINAL QUALIFICATION LIST
credit to TSI Timers

Pro Stock Car - Review Round #1 2014 The 2014 FIA Round One Event (which used to be called “The Main Event”) began with pretty poor weather forecasts. The weekend before the event was glorious with excellent sunshine and a hot sticky track, however the weather Gods didn’t seem to understand that we wanted to go racing. The teams began to arrive on Thursday through the worst storm England has seen in 50 years. Hail and extremely heavy rain produced some spectacular puddles in the pits, but the forecast was ever changing and we did hope to race, our fears were partially realised as Friday sportsman qualifying was rained off at around 3pm. Ålund Jimmy Ålund has had what may be called an “interesting” off season, driving Greg Anderson’s car in the NHRA Pro Stock championship, and along the way becoming the most successful European racer in the NHRA. Jimmy has been literally burning the candle at both ends. The day job does not go away just because you are being the “Speedy Swede” in the USA. It is a reminder that pro racing is a huge drain on time and resources when Jimmy tells me that he has just about caught up at work before he has to take another week out to come to Santa Pod. Thomas Lindström, set the track record at Malmo in preparation for this event. He hopes the changes they have made to the car for 2014 will take him all the way with Jimmy this year. In 2014 the Ernyrd cars Dodge was fast, but not quite fast enough. They understood well what the gap between them and Jimmy was and talking to the team reveals that they have made some progress toward the consistent 6.5’s that are needed to take the race to Jimmy. Michael Malmgren has purchased a Gerry Haas built Pontiac GXP race car and also tested in Malmo. Michael was running just 60 ft passes and data gathering runs at Malmo as the team get to understand the new suspension and chassis characteristics, but the 60ft times looked solid enough, and I expect Michael to continue building on his data and increasing his speed whilst lowering the ET’s. Saturday Q1 All our attempts to go racing on Saturday were foiled by weather. Pro Stock were in the pairing lanes when the heavens opened and we rushed to get the cars turned around and returned to pits. There was some racing on Saturday with an excellent session in Top Methanol and half a Pro Mod session which was ended when Mats Ericsson in the Green Goblin had an incident. Clear up from that was completed in the rain and racing was halted for the day. Sunday Q1 Sundays weather was warmer and dry, with pretty stable air pressure. The is pretty green though from the lack of running. Jan leads out Q1. First run of the season and a bye run. From my position on the start line it looked like Jan got up on the tyres well, but the car began to skip slightly in the second half of the track. Jan with an early chute and a 6.92 starts the session. Next pair is Magnus and Michael, both deliver excellent burnouts but both hit shake and get out of the groove out towards the wall and off the power early before cruising through the line That run was almost synchronised, Magnus went left, Michael went right, both shaking, and both off the power. It seems Magnus had his foot down marginally longer though, as Magnus reaches the line in 9.79 to Michael’s 10.14 Thomas and Jimmy round out this qualifier. And in a reverse of the previous round, both cars move to the centre and hit shake. Both drivers stay with it, and they take the strip in 6.70 and 6.61 respectively See the full event coverage at Eurodragster.com RESULTS DATA: - LINK TO FINAL QUALIFICATION LIST credit to TSI Timers	Michael Malmgren Sunday Q2 Michael starts the session with a bye, hits shake and drives through it an early clicked 6.94 Jan and Magnus have a pretty decent race in the early part of the track before Jan drops the laundry early and records a 7 second lap for no improvement. Magnus gets down to 6.76 and moves in to third place Jan Palmqvist Jimmy and Thomas round out the session, with Thomas looking to take the number one spot, but his 6.707 looks like he has a great bracket car, but it does not improve on Q1. Jimmy gets back to 2013 form with a straight and smooth 6.557 to improve on, and hold on to number one position Sunday Q3 Michael starts the session with a bye, and this time, the new black Malmgren car hooks up nicely and drives hard all the way to the stripe. Michael off the bottom of the pile with a nice 6.768. I think there is more to come from this new car, and I think the team know it, but they have to get there in stages, and professional as ever, they are doing exactly that Magnus Petersson Magnus also has a bye, and delivers an excellent burn out; quick back in to stage and Martyn gets him ready and on the line with no fuss. Magnus in to number 2 position at this stage with a clean and sweet 6.697 Jan comes round for the third Bye, but gets shut down on the line for a fluid leak Thomas and Jimmy round out the session, with Thomas still chasing the number one spot, but his 6.71 reinforces the other 6.7’s of the weekend but it does not improve on Q1 and crucially is not quicker than Magnus. Jimmy delivers a European record form 6.535 and locks out the number one position. Monday Eliminations Sadly the rain returned overnight and no class was able to race at all on Monday. Several times the weather cleared enough for the track crew to get almost ready to race, but then the rain would start again and we would all head off back to trailers. See the Championship points standings after the event under a separate headline in this newsletter. Remco Scheelings captured the flooding on site on camera. Featured the transporters of Michael Malmgren.
Getting ready for some action.. Ernryd Cars sponsored team R/T with Thomas Lindström behind the wheel
Text: Ian Hart Photos: Remco Scheelings This article is part of the Speedgroup Club Europe Online Newsletter June 2014 Published by Speedgroup www.speedgroup.eu All material, text, images and logtypes are the property of Speedgroup AB Any use of the above requires permission from Speedgroup email: asa.kinnemar@speedgroup.eu © Speedgroup 2014