A Swedish Bonneville report

[Björn Carlsson <bjorn.carlsson@sapagroup.com>]

Update:

Kjell Holgersson and Bjorn Carapi are having their time of life!
The have _fun_!
I just talked to Kjells wife and even she is thrilled by the fun they have
over there.

It's +45 C and 15 % humidity.
It's tough conditions for both man and machines.
Especially if you are a pale Swede that thinks +25 C is a bit too warm.

First thing first.
The hardware (read: car) went through inspection with only small
modifications.
But then it was time for the software (red: men).
They both had to start at the bottom and qualify for the big speeds.
That is why they ran slow runs around 150. Since they both want to give it a
shoot, there were a couple of practice runs that was needed.

Bjorn Carapi made yesterday an attempt at +200 mph on the long run but it
was too slippery so he didn't average it. I guess he should have brought the
snow chains. But he maybe thought the salt would do it. (*)

* = In Sweden we use plain salt to melt snow and ice on the roads. Now you
know why don't use our P-cars all season. We don't want to feed the rust
bug...
It's a pity. I got such a lovely snow plow at the front of my GT5s!  :-)

Kjell Holgersson was in the line up for the short track yesterday but he
wasn't sure if was going make it before they shut it down. The result don't
show anything.


Results are visible at:
www.scta-bni.org/Bonneville/Speedweek%2003/results.htm


They also sent us this message
"Thank you guys! We have read about the famous Mad Dog but never thought we
were going to meet him. We are so proud!"
www.scta-bni.org/Bonneville/Speedweek%2003/photos_14/IM000599.JPG

Tomorrow we will salute him with a big bowl of Frolic"!  :-)



More info from Jack DeRyke:

> Al Bloomberg (the Pantera Kid) ran Bonneville once before 
> with a completely 
> stock Pantera and a highly reworked Boss 302 engine. He 
> verified once again 
> that one CANNOT run an unraked, no-front-spoiler Pantera at 
> high speeds with any 
> degree of control. The car nearly spun at 135 mph in 
> qualifying, scaring Al 
> thoroughly, and totally spun with Al's brother driving (the 
> Avanti Kid), at172 
> mph, cracking an oil line & causing a small fire. 
> 
> Since the SCTA-BNI website seems to have a serious glitch 
> (maybe the current
> 
> internet worm in its server?) that prevents pages from ever completely
> loading 
> unless you 'trap' them. I didn't see Carapi or 'Sweden' as a 
> home country 
> listed in pre-registration on Saturday; 
> what is their
> team 
> name? Cheers- J DeRyke


Regards,
Bjorn Carlsson