Lorenz Stäuble, Super Twin Bike
SG: What have you been up to connected with racing since the last race at the European Finals?
LZ: We started to rebuild the bike for next season. I did some road racing on Circuito de Almeria in Spain, just for fun. But no drag racing any more for this year.
SG: Can you give us a summary of what the 2010 season was like for you?
LS: The first race went as expected. We knew we were not the best-performing team at Kunmadaras. After the win at the Main Event we were very happy, and we felt very confident for the rest of the season. Then came the first round loss at Alastaro, which made it very difficult to gain enough points until the end of the season. The rain-out at Mantorp made it even worse. We were really looking forward to the last two events, because we know that we are very strong on those tracks.
The win at Gardermoen put us in the points lead, so we had to keep the bike consistent and reliable for the last race.
The Finals started perfectly for us until the last qualifying run, when we broke the crank. It looked like we couldn't fix it because we didn't have any spare. With the help of many other teams and racers we managed to fix the bike, and we won the championship after setting a new personal best, which we really didn't expect
at that time.
It was a season with many ups and downs, but in the end we were very happy!
Lorenz Stäuble
SG: Can you tell us anything yet about your plans for the 2011
season?
LS: First we have to arrange the sponsorship for next season. At the
moment it's still pretty unsure, but if we
get enough sponsor money we will try to race the complete
championship.
SG: Are there anyone in particular you wish to thank for your
success in 2010?
LS: First I would like to thank my sponsors Walo, Midland Oil, SCS
IT and Ralph Marti for their support.
My team, Cinzia and Horst, did a great job at all the races. A big
thank-you, also, to Urs Erbacher who makes
it all possible. Last but not least, a big thank-you to all the
people who helped us fix our bike at the finals:
Ismo Mäenpää and his team, Cato Waale, Hans Olav Olstad, Ton and
Vincent Pels, and Acka Riemer with his
team. It made me really proud to be a part of the Super Twin Family!
Urs Erbacher, Top Fuel Dragster
SG: What have you been up to connected with racing since the last
race at the European Finals?
UE: Working hard to find sponsors for 2011 for four races in the USA
and all FIA races in Europe. Working on the rebuilding of the car,
equipment and truck for next season.
SG: Can you give us a short summary of what the 2010 season was like
for you?
UE: The season was as we had planned. First came the Main Event win.
In the past we’ve always won the Championship after we’ve won the
Main Event, so we know it pays off. The season was great: not too
much damage to engines and stuff and the first time without a US
crew chief. So Robin and I worked hard and we were both very busy
and nervous but we found the way to the win. So for us it turned out
a great season.
SG: Can you tell us anything yet about your plans for the 2011
season, such as, are there are any major changes planned, and do you
intend to run the full FIA championship?
UE: We plan to make the whole FIA Championship and to win it again!
We plan to make Pomona and Las Vegas in the USA, the first and third
and last two events of the NHRA season. We want to race with the new
Hadman car in Europe. This car was new before we had the big blow-up
in Houston last year. We’ve never run this car before in Europe. So
it will be a big challenge for us to put this car together and win
the championship with it.
SG: Are there any particular sponsors or people you wish to thank
for your success in 2010?
UE: Yes, we’d like to thank all our fans. They support us and
believe in us. Also a big thank-you to my team. They give everything
for free to work for me. I must also thank my sponsors and friends:
Midland Oil Switzerland, SCS IT Switzerland, H+R Germany, Niklaus
GYM Switzerland, Ralph Marti Mechanik Switzerland, Gary Burgin, XRP,
and all the other contingency sponsors. Special thanks to Karsten
and Per. They gave us a crank and tyres for the last final in
England. Without these parts we’d have lost for sure. And thank you
to all the other teams. They gave us some great competition on the
track and some great parties after the races!
SG: Anything else you wish to say?
UE: I love drag racing and being a part of this great sport.
Urs also wishes to show a thumbs up for team mate and Super Twin
champion Stäuble
Dan Larsen, Top Methanol Funny Car
SG: What have you been doing in terms of race planning since the
European Finals?
DL: After the Finals we had a break for a week before we unpacked
everything. The team gets together twice a week now, to work on the
car and the trailer in order to get everything ready well before
next season. Per Egil from Norway and Bengt from Sweden will come
over to Denmark 2-3 times during the winter to make final
adjustments for the first race.
SG: Can you give us a short summary of what the 2010 season was like
for you?
DL: I must say that 2010 has been one of the worst and most
expensive years for us. After the Main Event, we almost decided to
sit out the rest of the season. We blew our motor and burned our car
so bad that we couldn't even manage to participate in the final
round of eliminations.
We had to sit out Finland, for financial reasons and because the car
was simply not ready. It wasn’t ready until just a few days before
the Mantorp event. We managed to get it race ready and to the track.
On top of that we were top qualifier! We were the only Funny Car to
do a five second run on the newly resurfaced track. Unfortunately
that event got cancelled due to rain. But the most important thing
for us was that we had no damage that could have put us out of the
competition for the season.
Hockenheim went pretty well without any major problems. Top
qualifier with 5.85 ahead of Jurgen Nagel who ran 5.88 as #2. We
reached the finals, which were also cancelled due to rain,
unfortunately.
At the European Finals we had a problem getting the power out of the
car and we qualified as #4 with 5.92. In the last qualifying run we
blew the engine, but this time we had a spare short block. When we
changed engines in the car over night, we found an ignition problem
that had caused our bad qualifying performance.
In round 1 we eliminated Turner with a 5.83 run and in the next
round we beat Danny running 5.82. In the finals against Krivan we
burned a piston but still manage to win despite a slow 6.44.
SG: Can you let us know anything about your plans for the 2011
season?
DL: The car will remain pretty much the same but we will build up
our spare engine during the winter. We will probably not do the
whole Championship due to finances. At the moment the only sponsor
we have gives us free oil and that’s all we get.
SG: Are there anyone in particular you wish to thank for your
success 2010?
DL: I would like to thank my tireless Scandinavian team for all the
great work they put in the car, both on track and back in the shop.
It takes a huge amount of work hours to participate in a
Championship series. I know that everybody says the same thing, but
I really do have the best team possible! I want to thank my
dear wife Joan for all her planning and coordination. Without her it
would just be a big mess. I also like to thank Sunoco for providing
top quality products.
Joan Larsen - an important player in team Larsen
We will come back with an interview with Petri Paljakka, Top Fuel
Bike champion.. meanwhile enjoy a few photos of team Paljakka that
speak for themselves
Petri and crew happy after the championship title was secured
