VBS Racing Team

We arrived a (extremely) hot and sunny Malmö raceway and Friday afternoon it was time for a debut the 63'corvette - which hadn't been raced in Malmö before. And quite special was that the pro modifieds were to compete over 201meters, but it was for sure a fun and exciting experience for all of us. We recognized pretty fast that the track conditions was quite good and to be able to give us records.

 

That weekend both Patrick and Urban was competing, and they got to qualifying rounds at friday afternoon. It's really cool when you get too see the doorslammer race in the evening when it's getting dark. The first run went quite well for Urban with a 3,99 at first, but then we owerpowered the track in the next one. Patrick started off with good reaction time at friday, but did just improve more and more throughout the saturday. In eliminations he got through first round, but were sadly beaten in round 2. Well done! Both Q3 & Q4 gave us the same for Urban; resulting in tireshake, clocking 4,11 both. We may "wanted too much" as the track was very good. We served the engine and rolled the car for Q5, and it was then the dramatic happened.  

 

Urban was racing Micke Gullvist, which neither of them ever been in a crash with their cars, and now it suddenly happened - in the same race. Both the cars launched good, but Urban ("luckily") did a redlight so he was ahead at the three. Clocking 3,98 - the best time so far. But then he lost traction and got over in Micke's lane, where he came from behind and onto Urban's wheeliebars. So when the chutes came they got tangled in Micke's injector and he was stuck. They hit the guardrail three or fours times, and neither off them where able to steer anything at all. So they just had to sit along until the cars stopped at the track-end. "It was a hell of a ride", Urban said. Luckily both of the drivers were okey!! When getting back to the pits we got to see how badly the body were damaged, but the chassie had "survived" the challenge, except a few minor pipes. We therefore decided pretty fast to rebuild the car for tomorrow's elimination. And 5:00 in the morning "Bettan" was whole again. Got a few, few hours sleep before we were facing Niclas Andersson. Urban unfortunately made a redlight, but for us it was a relief to see that the car went straight from the crash less than 24 hours ago. We would like to thank each and every one of you helping us out after the incident, and a special thanks to Mats Jönsson, Stefan Nordström, Veidec, and the Lindahl Brothers. We really appreciate it!

 

 

 

Next up was first trip to Tierp Arena this year. I can imagine we wasn't the only ones who was longing for Tierp. The heat was unbearable, and the track surface got a bit too warm. For this weekend we had both the 53' and 63'corvette with us, and Patrick was competing in junior dragster. We felt we picked up where we left in Malmö; with problems. For the first we didn't get off the line at all, both of the cars. But it's not that strange, if you take in to considering that the track hadn't been raced on in a year. Some traction was ideal. In Q2 we clocked 4,87 in TD but no decent launch, while in PM we made 1.03 at the sixty which is okey, but from there and out it was all one run of tireshake, so shut off. The problems continued in PM and we ended non-qualified and outside the ladder. For the second time in Urban's career. But with the 53' we got one good pass at 4,05 giving us the #4 spot. We were up against Mats Wictor in first elim. when one off the chutes released and Urban had to shut off. We ended the weekend in Tierp with a couple of test-runs resulting in a flat tire and a broken blower belt. 

 

 

 

It was time for the finals of the Swedish Championship. In Sundsvall  we started to discover some of the problems we had with the steering and wheel positioning. For the three first rounds we just spun loose when hitting second gear, good launches at 1,00 everytime. In fourth round Urban got over in Mats Eriksson lane - once again. We knew something was terribly wrong, when the car acted so weird around half-track, every single run. Hit massive shake in Q5 but to an improving 6,45 in Q6. But then again lost traction a several times up to the finish line. So at the time we weren't anywhere near we wanted to be. During saturday evening we discovered some damage on one of the main bearings and decided to head home and strip down the engine.

 

 

It was some hectic days back home in the workshop, disassembling the engine and mounting it back in again - in just two days. Would like to thank Johan, Jonnie, Jimmy Jarolma, Daddy thun, Svein Arne Skjervö and Asgeir Johanessen for all the help. A tremendously hard work! We wouldn't have made it to Tierp if it weren't for you guys. With Bettan back in black, we happily set course for Tierp Arena. In Q1 Urban shut off at the line when the car was misfiring due to electrical problems. Launched good in Q2, but lost traction before half-track. Got happily inside the ladder with a soft set-up in Q3 where we made 6,28 and qualified #15. The last qualifying round was cancelled due to rain. We rolled out to elim.round #1 and met Marc Meihuizen early sunday morning. Both Urban and Marc launched good but Marc was ahead at the three. But then it was all Urban, when passing the finish line first to a 6,04!!! We had some luck as Marc's blower belt broke, but a win's a win. And 6,04 felt so incredibly great after our challenges throughout the season, and at that time it was worth all the hard work. Seeing the car go straight all the way to the top end was such a relief. We had a bye-run in the next one but our electrical problems came back and Urban took it easy. Next up for us was Tero Laukkanen in the semi-final, who beat us, as we hadn't been able to solve our ignition problem. Tero went on and took the win in the finals, well deserved! So you can say we ended the season in Pro Mod in a better way than we started.

 

 

One happy crew. Biggest relief of the season!