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2012-11-10:

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8-9 September

Falkenberg Classic
17 Formula Fords showed up for the RHK final at Falkenberg.
Qualifying was tight and I managed 8th time just 0,021s behind John Thim and 0,068s To Björn Otterberg in his Merlyn -72 in 6th

1st race saturday
I made an OK start and managed to gain a few places. I then had a great battle with Björn and Henry, losing out to Henry but managed to beat Björn.
At the end I ended up in 6th place

2nd race sunday
As Björn had a better lap time in race 1 he started ahead but just 0,07s separated us, Henry started 0,1s behind.
Some drizzle before the race made for a damp track. I had the luck of starting at the race line and Björn and Henry started on the damp inside.
I was a head of them in to the first corner and managed to stretch out a small lead . But after a couple of laps they were just behind me.
And as is always the case on Falkenberg lapping cars can be a big factor. Henry and Björn got past only for me to overtake them again.
A few laps later Henry spun off and at the yellow flag the next lap there was 3 back markers to lap. I lost out to Björn, Fredrik and Henry S as I was caught on the wrong side.
I managed to get past Fredrik on the last lap with a late braking maneuver in to the chicane.
Another tight race and I ended up at 6th place in race 2.

This was the last race for 2012 and I have put the car in to storage for the winter.
The car showed some good pace during the end of the season and with some more work on suspension settings I'm confident that next year will be a good season.
This winter I will build a spare engine, make some spare wishbones and suspension parts and sort out the "travel kit",
As it is now it takes far too much time and effort to gather everything together for the races.
I will also make an effort to sell my Van Diemen RF85

 

17-19 August

Finally the engine worked at it should after replacing the carb with the one from my rf85.
This winter I will disassemble both and try to find any differences. For the race at Kinnekulle I had replaced the rear springs for some softer ones to try to find some grip at the rear. Kinnekulle had suffered badly from this winter with a very bumpy surface causing the rear to bottom out frequently.
For Falkenberg I will try harder springs instead.

Friday practice went well and I got three 20min sessions in the dry and the car behaved ok with no real problems except for the rear shocks/shocks bottoming.

Saturday qualifying was wet and I managed 5th best time.
1st race on Saturday was wet and with the heat before us spilling oil on 3/4 of the track it was very tricky conditions. I made a good start despite starting on a lot of oil absorbent and I was 3rd through the first corner Anders passed me and Oskar spun off so I finished 3rd.
warm-up Sunday newcomer Henry spun off and damaged his RF89 against the barriers further reducing the starting field to just 11cars. Not sure what causes the low number of entrants, if it's because the event is just after the summer vacation or just the financial situation at the moment.

2nd race Sunday. Dry conditions and again a good start from 3rd. I managed to hold Björn and Henry behind me for a couple of laps but about halfway through the race the passed me on the straight. I never got any good traction out of the last bend. Anyhow the best lap times between me, Björn and Henry showed little difference.
Björn 59.210
Henry 59.355
Henrik 59.333
And we passed the finishing straight just 0.9s apart.

 

 

7-8 July

SSM

The best event of the year is Svenskt Sportvagnsmeeting at Knutstorp. 20 cars showed up with 6 of them beeing in my class G 1967-1971. Finally the car worked which lead to one 1st place and one 4th place in the heat was the result.

 

 

16-17 June

Velodromloppet

I had high hopes for this event, I had solved the bad running of the engine by going to JH-Teknik's dyno and sorting out the carb and ignition. The car had been repaired and looked good again (at a distance). I have altered the headrest and the cockpit section around the helmet and made a new bespoke seat.

Friday practice there was 2 sessions, 25 min each. At the start of the firs it was apparent that the engine wasn't running as it should missing badly in the corners. I checked the carb and found some weird passages that I blocked and for the first race it worked again. The qualifying went well and I qualified 5th in the rain, even if the engine wasn't running OK.

First race:

I made a decent start from fifth and managed to hold on to that for a few laps before being passed by newer and quicker cars. On lap 6 the right front lower wishbone broke an I had to retire. I managed to stop the car safely on an escape road so the damage isn't to bad.

The handling felt good and showed some promise After some more sorting of the chassis and getting the gearing right I think I can challenge Björn in his Merlyn MK11 and embarrass some of the newer cars.

 

26 May

Some pictures of the body repair. Fortunately the damage was limited. This type of body with integral nose and narrow cockpit is no longer available so I will have to repair it.

 

20 May Car ready to race!

First race at Anderstorp! I had sorted all the small issues and was ready a couple of hours before Atte was to collect the car and me. Friday was practice day and the first session went OK driving the car in the dry for the firs time it felt well balanced but there was still some misfire present that I thought that I had fixed. I went trough the carb yet another time without finding any debris and waited for other next session.

The engine was now missing a bit more and would not pull much more than 5000rpm in 3rd and 4th, but it looked as I would keep up with the older cars through the twisty bits. after about 2/3rds I spun it and managed to scrub of some speed before was on the grass and finally hit the armco barrier.

Damage seams limited to top/front body section, 2 wheels and 2 radial stays to the rear suspension.

So it's back to the workshop to do some repairs instead of the previous rebuilding.

!

 

May 2012

Hard work at the end before the season start as usual. I just managed to get it ready for testing at Anderstorp thursday testing one week before the first race. Unfortunately it rained cats and dogs but it was god to get a few laps in just to see what I had forgot. Not much came loose and no leakages meant that I had good hopes for the first race two weeks later.
I got it scrutinized for a FIA HTP and sorted a few small issues

 

5 February Back on its wheels!

The car was lowered back on its own wheels today for the first time since the 80's. For what I know the car made its last race in 1983 when Jan Jirwik shot the engine. It's nice to see it back togehter to get an overview of what's left to do before it races again.

It feels complete but I know from previous cars that all those small things can take forever to fix. Then there is painting of the body left as well. I will prepare it myself and let someone spray the glossy stuff. The car is a 1971 model and as such it should not have the engine cover, but as it came with the car when I bought it and I think the car looks better with it I will use it.

 

 

 

 

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