Race report, Veidec Festival 24/7 - 27/7.2008

There was a huge excitement before Veidec Festival and the third round
in the FIA European Championship. The team is on a not to bad 4 spot in
the Championship, but we will fight to reach the goal for the season:
to be in the top 3 spot.

Friday:
The first qualifying round started with a nice 5,67/403 km/h, which made
Paul Ingar second qualifier. But something scary happened at the end of
the track. The release mechanism to the parachute failed and Paul Ingar
got huge problems slowing down the car. The dragster continued driving
after the end of the track, through the sand (which is made to slow down
cars that have problems with stopping). The tour continued about 150
metres down the cornfield; then the car rolled around and ended up side
down. Paul Ingar quickly got out of the dragster on his own, with the
safety crew not far behind, checking him for possible injuries. The driver
was angry, but free for injuries.

Unfortunately the dragster had got a little damages, but the team quickly
saw the possibility to get the dragster checked and fixed and then continue
the race. A half hour after the incident, almost 20 persons were in full
swing fixing the car and make it ready to race again. We needed several new
parts to make the car ready again, and that was lent to us by our contestants
(!!). Thanks to Dave Wilson for borrowing us a rear wing and to Rob Turner
which lent us front wheels, and also Peter Schöfer ho help us with other parts,
just so the Islanders could continue the race.

After almost 12 hours of work, the car was ready to race. The car was checked
by a chassis expert, so we were sure it was OK before Paul Ingar was racing
again.

Saturday:
Saturday morning the team was ready for the third qualifying round. A lot of
people were surprised to see the dragster at the starting line – nobody had
imagined that the team was going to get the dragster ready the same weekend.
The dragster was tuned and Paul Ingar seemed untouched by Friday’s incident
when the time 5,67/402 km/h popped up on the scoreboard. The team was happy,
and even the audience, the speaker and the contestants cheered!
Islanders Dragracing Team was back in business!

The tension was high when the dragster came back the depot, and our guest from
Q8 Oils seemed to be very happy – just like the driver.

But the problems didn’t end there; when the crew checked the dragster after
the run, they could find a crack in the gearbox housing, and then a new hunt
for parts started. Contestant and gentleman Timo Haberman lent us his spare
gearbox, and the car was again ready to race. Assisting and cohesion between
the contestants are amazing!
Before the last qualifying round on Saturday, Paul was 5th on the list.
Paul Ingar then makes a 5,64/404 km/h pass, and climbs up to 4th position which
will give him more points in the Championship after the race. The car is checked
and cleared again, and it’s now ready for eliminations on Sunday.

Sunday:
Paul Ingar is up against Timo Haberman in the first elimination round. This is
going to be a very exciting race. This is probably the two drivers with the best
reaction time in the Top Methanol class. Haberman got the best start, with an
amazing 0,019 second reaction time against Paul’s 0,048. It’s a tight race, and
they go side by side all the way to the finish line, where Haberman takes the win,
only 0,098 seconds before Paul Ingar. Haberman stops the clock at 5,56/411 km/h
against Paul Ingars 5,63/404 km/h.

When looking at the E.T from the other races in this round, we could see that it
was only Haberman that had a good enough E.T to eliminate Paul Ingar. To see that
was a little sad, but the team is satisfied, considering the incident and all the
problems this weekend have given us.
We have counted the working hours from we started working on the car on Wednesday
until we were ready for leaving Mantorp, and it came up till 76 hours pr mechanic
so it was a lot of work, but we got the car together and just lost one qualifying
session. 

We have received the points for the European Championship and Paul Ingar is still
number 4 in the points standing. There are still two races left, and the next one
is in Hockenheim in Germany, 15th – 17th of August. 

The battle of the top 3 position is not over yet.

Hope to see you all in Hockenheim!

Sunday 27.07.08 

Paul Ingar racing agains Timo Haberman in the first elimination run, a thriller race against the two drivers with the quickest reaction times in the class. Timo first of the line with unnatural 0.019 sec react against Paul Ingar lightning 0.048 sec  ractiontime !    Side by side race all the way intil Timo overtake Paul Ingar with 0.098 sec at the finish line,  Timo Wins with 5,56 - 411 against Paul's 5,63 - 404 kmh

Saturday 26.07.08

The car was again checked over and tuned for improing the qualifying time, a strong  5,64 - 404 kmh and 4 qualifying spot in the final qualifying session.

After a long day and night with hard work geting the Dragster cleaned and repaired after fridays insident, the Islander Dragster was reddy for Quali 3 session at saturday morning. A lot off people was surprised when the Islanders was back on track after the top end insident !

The Team was extremely happy to se the dragster performe a nice 5,67 - 403 kmh and stoping safely in the shutdown zone.

I big thank to everyone involved in helping the Team back on track with parts and efforts.

Friday 25.07.08

First qualifying run was a strong run from the Islanders , 5,67 - 406 kmh an second spot in the field. But there was a big problems - There was no sign of the parachutes at the finish line !

Paul Ingar had big problems to get the dragster slowed down without the chutes, and the run endet 150 meters offroad an upside down !  The car had som damage to the rearwing and front wheels etc, but the Team has the target set for more racing at saturday  - stay tuned for uppdates

Islanders Dragracing Team preparing for Veidec festival.

The first thing we did on our trip to Finland was to
visit our Main Sponsor Q8 Oils In Stockholm were we got
more of our special made oil Islanders Drag racing oil,
and we also got a guided tour in the Q8 facility and
blending plant, really interesting to se how they do the
testing and blending. A big Thanks to all involved from
Q8 Oils and Petrolia that is the name off the factory.

The Islanders was on a good mission at Nitro Nats at
Alastaro, qualifying # 3 with a new PB at 5,59 in the
last qualifying run.
The early exit from the event in the first elimination
run against Wilson was not any good for the Championship
points, heavy tireshake broke the rear axel and the game
was over for this weekend.
With limited time to repair and get the car ready for Veidec,
the Team started to search for parts before the engine
was cooled down!

When the Team arrived back on The Island Frøya at Tuesday
the week after Alastaro there also was a Strange 10,5” Top
loader rear axel heading for the Island.
A big thank to Stig Nergård for a quick sale of this ex
Top fuel top loader axel, and Rune Fjeld who supplied us with
some plates to fit the rear end in to the chassis, we hope
this rear axel will take all the punishment we can give it !

 The Islander Dragster is planed to be loaded in the coach
this weekend with gearbox and rear axel rebuild, then the Team
is ready to hit the 1.000 km trip to Mantorp Park for the
Veidec Festival. We have to thanks all our sponsors who are
making this possible Q8 Oils who also will be visiting us at
the Veidec festival, Eidsvaag, Lerøy Midnor, Teng Tools,
Sande Gård and our god friend Fred Hanssen.

This event will be a thriller for the FIA points, there is a
tight race in the top 3 ranks for all classes,  the Islanders
is currently # 4 in the FIA Top Methanol Championship and the
Team is not planning to stand behind the top 3…….
We are ready again.....

 Videoclip from Alastaro :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP9_SzvVD2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrLQU6gcww

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euUkjzELI8g&feature=related

For  more news please look at:

www.eurodragster.com

Pictures : 

 http://www.mek.nu/alastaro/lordag/content/DSC_5187_large.html

http://www.mek.nu/alastaro/lordag/content/DSC_5189_large.html