But who's driving ?!

Every time the SSR team proudly present The Dream and the race car, the driver question always pops up. So, who's gonna drive?

Here's  what; we're 5 persons in the Salt Slash Racing Team and 4 want's to drive. Will these wishes come true? Or will one of us walk around with The T-shirt and stop talking to the others? 
Nobody knows for sure, but according to Erik Hansson, a well know Land speed racer, it should be possible for all four of us to take the race license and make a serious attempt. If  the car is durable enough that is, he said with a grin...

Here are nevertheless, the potential drivers and their characters/personalities:

Magnus is a kind of Chuck Yeager type. Probably the one of us who's most comfortable to live up to the quote from Parnelli Jones "If you're in control, you're not going fast enough"  He's proven this by going faster than modern cars, with his Model A coupe in the yearly A-Bomber's Hill Climb with a strong and healthy four banger and original chassis and tires.  A ride with Magnus is an experience in many ways. You'll get a white face and a sick feeling when you arrive. Why? He drives his Model A according the old Volvo tag line "Drive it like you hate it".

 

Håkan is more like Smokey Yunick. He's  maybe not as opinionated as Smokey but he knows a lot about engines and it's not only theory, it's for real. The key question is;  has his high speed experience from his Corvette C6 given him the force to make it? He is probably the one us with the highest claimed speed of 272 km/h , measured by the speed meter in the Corvette on autobahn. He has speed robustness from his years with motorcycles. all though not with the fastest BMW and Triumph bikes, but weak and or strange chassis can compensate lack of power when training speed robustness.

 

Anders kind of Ingemar Stenmark with a renaissance man twist the one of us who is coolest and shows no feelings when the shit hit's the fan he for sure has the mental power to pass all borders in to the land of speed and still having the appearance of a nice sunday drive together with his mother. Proven race experience and a no worry mindset when it comes to the legal interface.

Karl-Johan is like Alfred Neubauer, a man which Stirling Moss said following about: He was an amazing character, who could have anybody snapping to attention if necessary, but would also show great thought and understanding, in relaxed moments he could have us all rolling about with laughter."  Kalle is a creative man of many ideas, a decision maker, who was born with gasoline in his veins. A Speedy person, with Speed on his mind and an impressive car background.

In ancient times, the Oracle in Delphi was the natural source of information. This old oracle would however be embarrassed if compared with Lars-Martin. LM doesn’t give foggy answers. Lars-Martin knows everything…and still, which is a mystery to the rest of the team, he don’t want to drive our racer at El Mirage and Bonneville....

So, not a driver, but instead the keeper of the Zoo above: Lars-Martin

But to be completely honest, all of use will drive on the salt and dirt, all of us will take the SCTA license and all of us will push the pedal to the metal slowly but steadily. 

The big question is come who's first to set a record and who's second...because the Amazon is our ticket to ride and enter in to the land of speed.

I guess that when we all have our SCTA approval, we'll line up for a series of years at Bonneville and El Mirage.

Mean and low and looking for driver(-s).

Elmia Soooooon !

Busy preparing for Elmia ! on Wednesday next week we start to load our stuff  for 2015 Bilsport-Performance Custom-Motor-Show 

Take the opportunity to pass by and take a look on our way cool EFR Turbo charger and of course our land speed project. 

Carina and Anders evaluate our branding stuff.

What keep us going

Hot Rod Magazine, Cake and Coffe is what keeps us going !

We are all eagerly waiting for the next issue and suddenly it arrives (We have all signed up). 5 issues lands in our mailboxes around the same time. Usually when this happen we start to call each other and start to reflect about new opportunitiees and interesting stories.

This time the bonus discussion where around to twists.

Front page.  

The first we saw and intrigued us was the theme and guiding star for this issue, 

CHEAP GAS IS BACK . Get Out And Burn It (before the man spoils our fun).

In a Swedish perspective maybe not a political correct twist…. since we not always are political correct we liked it a lot, especially the cars that where driven in different articles probably all with almost around 4 digit hp levels. 

Engine stories.

Two article generated a lot of discussion with two different framings.

• The Ford Hemi SOHC article is to be seen as a educational basic, something to have with you and relate to. Just like certain classic books that are good to have read to be able reflect upon,  relate to, refer to and maybe drop an elegant quote from. Gives you also a historical perspective.

• The Scroungers guide: Gen III Hemi Tips. We usually always end up with that the LS (In different set ups) is the best set up for motivation, nothing beats it regarding being robust, easy and affordable versus alternatives. This thesis is now under stress by the Gen III Hemi  which have a number of very strong technical proof points, head flow, configuration of engine combined with how it's engineered.

If you combine above with cake and coffee we are lost in different ideas and more or less good projects we have to build.

This phenomena repeats itself in the SSR Garage ones a month and keep us going.

What about our Fika

You need Coffee (Strong) hot milk (if you like it smother) and cake usually "mass-produced" cakes of different qualities and sometimes the more healthy alternative of sandwiches (less sugar)

But now and then we do have home baked which is the most luxuries alternative.

This weekends Chocolate Cake with Butter cream made by Carina (mainly) and Håkan (partly)

OK now you know how it works. 

Heart surgery Part 1

We're aware of the fact that bare bones needs a skin, at least a thin layer of though surface that will protects us from the salt. That's why Anders is working with sealing the drivers compartment with SSR fabricated sheet metal. Piece by piece.

Layer by layer is finding is its place. We all love it.

But the planned heart surgery need to start at some point in time, and the time schedule should be kept. So we started. Task no. 1: remove all restriction. (Yes, I do feel a bit nostalgic, since I was in charge of developing this turbo system, approximately 15 years ago...time flies) 

Naked as can be...the base engine from exhaust side

same thing...but now, yes you're right, it's the inlet side

the stuff that we won't use

Still in good shape after all these years, but way too small for SSR

Speed image

Like a black arrow over the white desert
under that lucky old sun
we'll be there
sniffing low
with our Amazon station wagon
to understand the essence of speed

LM Tool Time and on wheels celebration!

The team felt that a small celebration was needed. The expected eating, drinking and storytelling took place successfully. LM is, as you might remember our general help desk, and last Saturday he felt the urge to bring some hardware to the party. His stories about historic work was used to guide us to his latest finding, a new magic spray.

But first: A pile of older tools on display. A never used Bacho adjustable wrench/spanner in it's original box accompanied by a pocket knife and a small screwdriver.

To the point: LM had found a new answer to all problems: Gibbs all purpose lubricant !

His plan is to give our metal clean body a good coat to avoid surface corrosion.

LM had picked up this invaluable substance in better known speed shops and according to rumors metal fabricators like this.

Håkan couldn't help himself and tested the magic can in the living room and made a brown stain in the ceiling. Not a perfect move since Carina (his wife) had an issue with this artistic improvement. All tough the smell was judged as ok.

The ceiling got its celebration spot by Håkan after he and SSR the team had consumed some of this excellent recommendable rum, which enhanced the team creativity even further, but unfortunately contributed to bad judgment. Not a good combination, but for sure fun. 

Ones we've managed to get back on track, we ended up in a extremely energetic  discussion about making a pre-visit to Bonneville Salt Flats this year. We haven't fully decided this yet, but probably Håkan have to stay home in Sweden this year since Speed Week was cancelled after he tried to go there last year. Obviously we don't want to contribute to another canceled landspeed racing event...

Magnus, here posing as The King while enjoying celebration rum.

Evidence of beauty, landmark and springtime !

Saturday the 14th of march we managed to release the beast or at least let it out on Ringön. It took its first stumbling mph at Kalkbruksgatan helped by the team pushing and guiding Amazylen around. Ok, it was not running by it's own machine instead it had to rely on us...but anyhow.

We were extremely curious to se it outside and to be able to take a couple of steps back from car and experience its stance and proportions.

We all came to the conclusion that we had a good start and need to put more work in to stance and ride hight, it was a ltle tricky to get it out from the garage 

On and off we are explaining the weather and seasonal influence to us and right now we're heading towards spring and we had a sunny dry day and approximately +10 deg C outside Which means that it was just perfect for such a groundbreaking moment.

The Team and the Dream

Same as above but from another angle

 Carina and the Beast

 

 No, it's not accelerating...and it's not a Gasser. 

Later on in the evening we where all by Björnssons for some food and drink and continued to plan our next steps we will now split it up in a number of parallel work streams. 

Step 1 

Power train: building the twin turbo ……around 1000hp.

Body: floor, belly pan, closures………aero, safety, 

Media: Cooling, intercooler, fuel, safety………water. fires, ice.

Step 2 add below

Chassis: brakes, wheels ………..

Electrical: engine management, logger, instruments ……..

Step 3 

Take a part 

Detail

Surface treatment 

Parallel with all of the above we´re developing our Speed Shop, which means building the business and the brand. One of the first landmarks is that we'll be att Elmia Bilsport Motorshow this year (during the eastern)

Definition of beauty, landmark and springtime:

Beauty a quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or color, proportion, authenticity,and originality.

Landmark an event marking an important stage of development or a turning point in history.

Springtime the earliest, usually the most attractive, period of the existence of something

 

Pumping iron -Brittish Steel in the stall

Everybody except Carina, Anders and Kalle did love the remains of a former XJS from 1975. The doors, the seats, the trunk lid, the front end... all pieces of this formerly so proud car was laying around in the workshop for a year by now and almost nobody in the team ever complained...I think...But eventually, it had to come to an end and after we've stumbled over the steering rack one time too much we decided to borrow Carinas C20 and prepare ourselves for some muscle building activity.

The C20 is here already packed.  We all fought against this reasonably early and very grey Sunday morning in Gothenburg. But where were the rest of the team? They're stretching against the opposite wall, like we've seen guys doing after running around in the streets without purpose or gain. Why? It felt like such a moment, when we needed to mimic this behavior... even though we've done a good job. Strangely enough I still felt pain the day after... Is God good?

We're getting there. A coffee in the sun. Guess where the photographer has been sitting.

Not only king of the hill. As well alone on an empty pickup bed. Where the rest of the team are? Again, stretching...

Cardboard Aided Design needed to keep AmazonCool.

Magnus is practical man with a mathematical mind. He needs however some support in order to complete his geometrical masterpiece. And we don't want to interfere with any kind of computers since these might interfere he's furious,creative process. Hence we did provide him with empty cardboard boxes which enabled him to simulate the cooling system concept and packaging in an appropriate way.

Geometrical genius caught creating  

 
More about keeping our Amazon heart cool will follow...

Shaved Amazon body!

No, it's not related to Brazil and is has nothing to do with peeling. It's all about preparing our beauty for Elmia Motor Show. As we gathered this Saturday, we were all prepared to use our muscles, to freeze, to get dirty and to fill our lungs with dust from paint remover. But before, we were able to display our strength and braveness we luckily had the possibility to enjoy Gitte's & Mario's Kalte Platte which we successfully combined with coffee and Danish pastry.

Perhaps not good for your body... but tasty and good for the soul. And it did prepared us mentally for hard work.

Besides, there were obstacles to overcome, like Ragnars stranded Mini with crank bearing failure.

A nice combo. German Sausage & Cheese culture combined with Scandinavian Fika. A nice and balanced way to get energy and ideas.

Ragnar, normally fast a guy who now suffer a crank bearing failure, blocked the Amazon body's path to open air. 

 We got a lift off 

The Body is almost levitating a lot thanks to almost magic forces and partly its weight loss !

We are soon there !

A little higher !

Landed ! safe and sound 

What..the...hell.. have we created? At this point in time we didn't think too much since we still shivered from using out muscles.

And here's the body as its resting while waiting for the crew with angle grinders to arrive.

Afterwards, Kalle and Anders were in reflection mode as they're thinking about the next steps.

Thinking is good. Reflection is even better. But to act is as good as it gets. Which is why we let the Amazon body rest on the roof for a while. 

All good. The body is again resting in comfort on the frame after a short moment of insecurity. Isn't the chop top Amazon Wagon in bare bone metal really nice? We think so.

Remark: It should as well be said that the enabler for this rapid change from a body with 4 layers of stone hard 30-45 years old paint to a bare bone sheet metal body was, again, Gitte who without any kind of wining just fired up her heat pistol and removed a lot of paint, while the rest of us was either talking or found comfort with a bottle of wine. Thanks, Gitte!

Strange driveshaft from Summit Racing via LM Varberg

In our strive to complete our bullet proof drivetrain we asked LM to specify and purchase the drive shaft, one of the missing links in our driveline.

Those of you who have followed our blog are aware of that we describe LM's knowhow and competence as beyound Summit Racing help desk combined with a tendency (well, someone who doesn't´t know better would describe this as an illness) to use the best of best to make it better than maybe needed.

You will maybe ask why ?
The answer is because he is like that……..and he can.

This was for sure one of those moments and even LM showed signs of that this is maybe to much.

So this is what we ended up with, from our source of magic forces, Summit Racing.

A custom made ( in seamless CRMO Pipe ) Strange driveshaft with forged yokes and billet slip yoke.

For sure more than capable to handle our needs, probably with a huge safety margin.
It's probably strong enough to rotate the moon.

From a safe source we know that LM slept very well with a big happy smile the night after he delivered this magic piece.

Strip the paint....a painful job.

Let's meet on Sunday and remove all paint from the Amazon body (the race car). We just we roll it out and attack it simultaneously with four slow-spinning angle grinders. It will most likely be sunny outside and we'll be done in an hour. How difficult can it be?

 

That's how it sounded when we discussed the topic. Why don't you use paint remover ?Ragnar asked, in an almost arrogant manor.  We of course ignored him. Paint remover? Why?

 

When we woke up this Sunday morning, it was snowing and raining in Gothenburg (a weather which is very representative for Gothenburg) ...but we were determined. So we drank a gallon of coffee and then we revved up our angle grinders. What happened? We  were soon dusty as bakers, but the first layer of paint on the car was just a little matt. Then we solved the dust by using a vacuum cleaner while sanding. Less dust, but really slow and boring process.

 

But wait a minute, didn't Gitte remove all paint from their Volvo P1800 ES, by using a heat pistol?

 Yes, heat pistol and patience works. Unfortunately, we only have the heat pistol...

 Maybe we should try paint remover instead? If is works, it has one advantage, you can discuss car dreams while waiting for the paint to soften up a little. Kalle and Magnus are here brutally applying the chemical stuff.

The we added more paint remover using the same method.

3 hours later: Yes, the paint is getting softer. But will this method really be sufficient? If it wouldn't have been for bad weather, we would have been ready now.  Just as you know, Ragnar.

Neveretheless, in a couple of days, we'll know more. It feel good though that there is some kind of project progress even when we're home sleeping. To be continued....