Team Kendall Racing Team Report Veidec Festival and Sunoco Drag Challenge
Veidec Festival, Mantorp Park, Sweden:
The weekend started with rain and when the weather finally cleared up on Friday afternoon we were ready for our first qualification run. We had decided to step up the power a bit trying to run fast at the new paved asphalt of the track, unfortunately this decision resulted in a broken transmission belt when the clutch timers locked the clutch at about 150 metres in to the run.
On Saturday morning the weather was cloudy and grey but just before qualification run no. 2 the sky cleared up an the sun started to heat up the track and with a milder set up we managed to run a 4.07 seconds at 302 km/h spinning the tire hard from about 100 metres to the end ( http://www.youtube.com/romnetse#p/u/2/xspMnPX_XDo ). We were really pleased with this time since it was only about 0.1 seconds from our own European record at 4.061 seconds and we were no. 1 qualifier before Jaska Salakari on his KTM Nitro Duke at 4.12 second, which must have been one of the fastest 1/8 mile runs on a V-twin bike ever in Europe.
At qualification run no. 3 we decided to see if the track could handle some more power since we really wanted to put on a good show for the crowd, however this run ended up in a broken chain and eight bent valves with and some minor damages on the frame. We stayed no qualifier even after this run and fixed the damages during the night and were ready for the race on Sunday.
Sunday started unfortunately with rain and it kept on falling until lunch time and after drying up the track the race started with Pro Modified cars and one elimination round of Top Fuel cars, but after that the rain started again and the race was cancelled.
We travelled home on Sunday evening and just about 10 minutes from the track the sun was shining but there was nothing we could do about the cancellation and had to go home to our work shop and prepare the bike and our selves for the UEM race the following weekend at Gardermoen in Norway.
Sunoco Drag Challenge, Norway:
We left our home town Sollebrunn early on Thursday morning and travelled for about four hours to the track in nice and sunny weather and put up our camp in the pits during the afternoon, not knowing that the rain was only hours away. The rain started on Thursday evening and didn’t stop until around 2 pm on Friday when the track crew started to prepare the track for qualification round no.1.
Qualification run no.1 was coming up and we had really high hopes of good traction despite the cold track but somehow we over estimated the traction spinning the tire with a much too high rpm and tire shake.
On Saturday morning the weather was really nice and sunny and qualification run no.2 came up. At this run we took out some power from our previous set up to try to get down the track which were resulting in a nice and strong 6.185 sec/ 360.00 km/h which made us no.1 qualifier. After the run we were checking the bike and everything was OK and we decided to add some power for the last qualification run to se what kind of power the track could handle.
Qualification run no.3 was coming up and we were lined up together with all our competitors. Peter made a nice a long burn out and I could feel that the traction in the starting area was great during pushing back Peter to the starting line. The bike left hard and the Peter was on a really good run until the clutch timers locked the clutch and the transmission belt was totally destroyed, despite this we were still no.1 qualifier and started to prepare the bike for the upcoming elimination on Sunday.
On the first elimination round Peter should meet no.6 qualifier Kai Selkämaa who had had some problems during the qualifying, but had solve his problem and was ready for the run. The run was delayed due to a car spreading engine oil on the track but after the clean up work by the track crew the track was OK and the riders were getting ready for the run. Both bikes were leaving the line hard but after about 100 meters in to the run Kai hit some problems with his bike and Peter was on a storming ride towards the finish line at 6.10 sec. / 344 km/h with an early shut off.
On the second elimination round Peter had a bye run due to that there were only six qualified Top Fuel Bikes at this race. As some of you might know we always try to give the crowd a good show and Peter kept the throttle until about 1000 feet which were resulting in a decent 6.18 sec. / 341 km/h with an early shut off.
The final was coming up and Peter was up to meet Rene van den Berg from Holland. Both guys mad great burn outs and we all could feel that there was a lot of pressure on both riders as they were standing at the starting line. The green light was on and both riders left at about the same time but then Peter smoked the tire at the 60 feet marking, first once and then once again, then he hit the throttle once again and recovered the traction starting to hunt Rene down the track, passing him at the 1000 feet marking and winning the final with 6.64 sec. / 373 km/h ( http://www.youtube.com/romnetse#p/u/1/jGLT08H69D8 )!!!
What a great race, talk about close racing, winning the final after a “pedal fest” in Top Fuel Bike! A great achievement for our whole team and especially Peter as the great driver he is.
This puts the end of this report and we are now back in our home town starting to prepare the bike for the upcoming European Finals at Santa Pod in England between the 9th – 12th of September.
A big THANK YOU to all that makes this possible:
- Kendall Motor Oil in Sweden, supplied by Sollebrunns Oljeservice www.sollebrunn.com/oljeservice/
- Samek Tool AB, who makes some of the best moulding tools in the automotive industry in Sweden www.samektool.se
- CemeCon A/S, one of the best coating companies in Europe when it comes to camshaft coating etc www.cemecon.se
- Real Form, product development within mechanical design www.realform.se
- Romnet, consultants within computer network favours etc www.romnet.se
- Kjell-Owe Andersson, for lending us his motorhome during this two race events.
- All our families and friends
For more information about our team please visit www.billetracing.se (in English).
Please find attached some photos from Mantorp and Gardermeon by our good friend Ivan Sansom.
Best Regards from Peter and Sören Svensson, Team Kendall Racing Top Fuel Bike
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