Sunday, June 30, 2019

Sunday morning...and more.

Our lives runs in turbo speed. We're supercharged. We have racing on our mind and we're working hard. Always. Our plan is to sleep when we're dead. At that point in time there seems to be plenty of time.

But still, even in this life there are these moments. When you can feel at ease. They almost always arrive on a Sunday. When you wind down. When the soul is free.  A shining sun serves as a support, But even a winter Sundays can provide peach of mind. In worst case it all turns melancholic...or balance in between. 

Here's anyhow the Salt Slush Sunday as of today.
Kalle took the Ford 32 roadster (with 354 Hemi) for a spin. He built this car several years ago and it still can make you afraid in a very positive way. 
Perhaps we were not so relaxed on the surface…Carina and I managed to fire up the old Olds Coupe and take it for a ride. Yes, there was an incident as always, but over all...a clear victory.

Other than that...

Sunday feeling part 1 by Johnny Cash
Sunday feeling part 2 by Velvet Underground.



Sunday, June 23, 2019

The meaning of life? Could it be a Supercharger upgrade?

What's the meaning of life? Why do we want to move forward? Why make good things better? Why go fast?
 
All these relevant philosophical question are nice to discuss and think about.
 
But there's more to it. There's a Fever involved. A Fever that keeps car guys and girls wide awake at night. A fever that make hearts beat hard. There's no cure. Only temporary relief.  Reliefs that comes with a performance upgrade. When your ride moves from really fast to beyond imagination.  
Listen to Mike when he guides you through a Corvette C7 Z06 upgrade
 (to Magnuson TVS 2650)
 
Remark 1: Mikes C7 with Magnuson 2300 was one of the fastes cars I've ever experienced.
 
Remark 2: How Magnuson managed to fit the Eaton TVS 2650 supercharger under the Corvette C7 hood is a mystery. There must be a God of Speed that want bring piece of mind to C7 owners. At least temporary.
 


Sunday, June 16, 2019

For the love of Racing! How to crave for hardship.

Racing in general; Exhausting. Expensive. Extreemly time-consuming. Add dry salt desert heat, blistering sun and uncertain weather conditions that can ruin it all, always. All located in a far away from Everything location. And basically no media coverage. That's Bonneville Speed Week.

So why do it? Why prepare for years to get there? Why withstand it all?

Because it's magic. The desert hardship brings out fighting spirit. Speed is addictive. The Epic salt desert brings poetic peace.

Right now the jetlag from the El Mirage test drive is wearing off while the crave for Speed Week 2019 is building up.

Still don't get it? You're not to blame. But have a look at the pictures below that Hans Lundblom just sent us...from Bonneville Speed Week 2018.
Powerful Swedish Steel under the Califorina sun. 
Anders.. 
...and Magnus while preparing the race car for Speed Week at Erik's & Ruth's Place in Califorina.
Seconds before one of the many races.
Paracute released after the last run 2018.
No remorse and no reverse. The race is over.
Our hero, help and guide to landspeed racing. Erik Hansson.
A man who knows how to burn midnight oil. But never learned how to give up.
Don Ferguson and Erik Hanson mixing nitro. Focus required.  
After race at Salt Flat Café. A good place to celebrate a birthday. Our friend, Rick Palagyi

Friday, June 7, 2019

Test Drive at El Mirage!

There's no guarantee in racing. Whatsoever. Effort can only take you so far. But still, we're engineers and we believe in analysis and testing rather than in faith and destiny. Therefore we've been working with our race car at Erik Hanson's shop in Orange and test driving the car at El Mirage. Purpose; get ready for Bonneville Speed Week 2019.
 
Let's talk about before and after. Let's start with before.
To start with we had to remove remains of 2018 Bonneville Speed Week from the Amazon. Salt and oxide.  Palm trees and the blue California skies served as a frame for our work with the 449 Amazon. The sun tan was for free too. 
To work in the close proximity of other landspeed race cars is inspiring and helpful.
Some need an after-ski drink. Salt Slush are more into after-wrench. We're here looking at Modelo wind down. 
Still in before mode. The 454 Suburban resting after fighting the Barstow hills. The old Burb still handles heat and hills and the combination of the two. 
For those of you that has not offloaded a race car in a totally quite desert where a wild wind is blowing 40degC (104 deg F) air...
...it's a memorable moment everytime. To some extent you get used to it, but still...it's mindblowing.  
 When silence is broken.
Advice: Look and listen at this video a couple of times.
The after; All dust must go. We're relieved and happy. The calibration is good, the car seems really fast. We're back at Erik & Ruth's Place, cleaning the race care, sorting up our race car
 
Next step: 2019 Bonneville Speed Week 

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Epic. We're at Pomona Swap meet.

The early bird catches the worm. A saying that's not applicable for swap meets over a certain size. Like Pomona Swap Meet. Because it's not possible to see it all between 05.00am and 02.00pm. It's too big. There are too many impressions. No use to be structured. Just walk around and hope for the baragin/miracle to pop up around the next corner. 
In total 15 miles (24km) of booth after booth is painful and exhausting...but wonderful. If you're in to car and bike culture that is. 

Crap and Jewels all mixed. Stucture, confusing and creativity and one big melting pot. Here's a couple of pictures… 
Huge area. A lot of everything.
Talk. Haggle. Decide. Agree. Shake hands. I'm buying 97's carbs for my Ardun. 
Immaculate Cadillac.  
Gordini with sting. 
No blues. Just an Amazing 1950 Mercury Custom.
 
Some ride in comfort. Others carry the burden without notice.  Exitment and expectation as fuel.
Old style, modern heart. 
There are different ways to get attention. This is one. 
LS, Coyote, Hellcats...take a pick. 
Caballero, Buick Caballero. 
A truck? A Benz? No,a Mercamino! Dare to be different.

No rain. Not Cold. No heat.

Just a nice day at Pomona Swap Meet.