Monday, May 31, 2010

FSR-H3.5 Eksjö May 29

The first Swedish hydro nationals of 2010 was held in Eksjö May 29-30. On Saturday we raced the 3.5 cc classes as in OTA tunnels and hydro. The most popular hydro class in Sweden is 3.5 cc and has (according to me) had the closest hydro racing the last few years and this year it was no difference.

The weather was good with some showers and a few of the heats had some rough water. But it was raceable anyway and most of the heats had almost smooth water.

At this nats we had the pleasure to see a small comeback from former NAVIGA FSR-H 3.5 world champ Jörgen Andersson in 3.5 and he was really fast of course. Jörgen brought two .21 riggers and he raced one of them - let me come back with more pics of booth of them tomorrow. The race boat was his trusted 2006 world champ Eagle rigger but with a gearbox! The sound was special and the big prop was even more so... ;)

Personally I had a good race and won most of my heats except the two times I had to meet Jörgen... The last heat was the decider as either me or Jörgen had to win it to win overall. But it was the roughest water all day and my Kep's was good but not as good as Jörgen's Eagle in that heat. But it was very good and fun racing - some of the heats where very good and fast even though we had to make the oval slightly shorter due to the narrow space in the lake.

Sad to say it but this was the last hydro / tunnel race ever in this lake. The club have been booted from the location after this summer...

FSR-H 3.5 final results:
1. Jörgen Andersson / 1600p / Eagle 21
2. Niklas Edlund / 1500p / Kep's 21
3. Mikael Sundgren / 1300p / Kep's 21
4. Christer Gustafsson / 894p / Road Runner 21
5. Bo Sandström / 694p / Bootleg Eagle 21
6. Mikael Gartne / 675p / Eagle 21
7. Fredrik Lundahl / 0p / JAE 21G2

Some pics are borrowed from Nilac Adolfsson/Munter webpics album - click HERE.

Sune Persson had outdone himself BIG time when he had custom made these tiny riggers as prices of all three rigger classes... They are hand-molded and made out of 7 pieces I think. Its by far the coolest prices I have ever got at a race.

The riggers even had rudders and carbon sponson rods... Speachless.

My Kep's 21 was that good... LOL

Jörgen in lane 1 and me in lane 2.


My Kep's 21 RACE 2010 in testing after the race was over (no number sign on it). Same set-up as in the race but a Sholund H7 3.75 prop on it and with Jörgen behind the 4PK wheel (so I could check radar the speed and snap a few photos) it topped 106 kmh (65.8 mph) but the course is a little short and the pipe was a little long (for only doing top speed trials). In race set-up I would think it does about 95 kmh which is way more raceable at least on this side of the pond. But not too shabby for a propped-up race set-up even though I would not race that prop on a Kep's 21. The Sholund H6 with 3.46 or 3.6 cup is better suited race props for a well tuned Kep's 21 RACE 2010 rigger I think. Overall I was very happy how the boat handled and its easy to drive and even can turn left a little!

Wanna scratch build a fast .21 - rigger? If so, click HERE.

My race stuff: Kep's 21 / CMB Valvola "Gold head" / O'Donnell OD-9 or Blue plug / Zoom 21 carb / Fat pipe @ 200 mm / Futaba 4PK / 2 x S9650 & S9551 servos / Sholund ABC H6 with 3.46 cup / 60% nitro & 14% Klotz Super TechniPlate.









Mikael Sundgren with his Kep's 21 - he finished third. Mattias is co-driving and Mattias girlfriend Linda is watching on the pontoon. It wasn't too warm on Saturday...

Gartne runs close to the shore...

Jörgen towards #1 buoy.

Mikael's Kep's 21 - this one is the earlier "freebie" design - not the one I have down-loadable now.

Mikael again.

More Micke shots...

Here we go.

Gartne's Eagle seems to run too wet.

It was not smooth waters but not that rough either (most of the time).

Close to the shore turn #2.



Christer Gustafsson's Road Runner .21 seemed to have lost some speed during the winter brake...

OTA Tunnels Eksjö May 29

Saturday May 29 the outboard tunnel season began with the first nats of 2010 in Eksjö. We had good weather but there was some rain showers and a little bit of wind in some heats, but generally very good race weather. Local outboard racer Mattias "Benke" Bengtsson was TQ with his VS1 tunnel but somebody accidentally kicked it on the pontoon before the 8-lap final so he had to use his HTB290 instead! But his HTB was equally good so he could almost cruise to victory.

I was third in qualifying but had the inside lane at the start of the 8-lap final and its a 1-buoy-180-deg-turn at the start = VERY tight. My VS1 doesn't really like the tight turns so I was slightly wide there at corner exit and crashed when somebody wanted my lane-space from the outside and I DNF:ed...

OTA Stock 3.5 final results:
1. Mattias Bengtsson / VS1 / HTB290 / OS
2. Sven Mundhenke
3. Stefan Adolfsson / HTB290 / OS
4. Sune Persson / Bandit 3.5 / TT
5. Niklas Ericksson / TS2
6. Freedik Karlsson / VS1 / OS
7. Niklas Edlund / VS1 / OS
8. Bo Sandström / VS1 / KB
9. Anders Enblom / HTB / OS
10. Mikael Sundgren / VS1 / KB

For more pics from Saturday, click HERE.

Sune Persson is now my hero - check these prices for the top-3! Awesome to say the least. Sune has handmade all parts including the box they came in himself... Speechless...

Mattias VS1 in practice/qualifying. Quickest this day.

Mundhenke's tunnel.

Another picture of Mattias VS1.

The start is a stand-still one and all are released at "0" time. The track is a 3-leg course and the start is always towards the top buoy.

Stefan Adolfsson's HTB290 in qualifying.

Start fast and turn right. The other buoy to the right is not included in the tunnel course, thats buoy 4 in the hydro oval...

Next nats is in Ludvika July 3-4. Click HERE and HERE for a reminder of last years race.

FSR-H7.5 Eksjö May 30

Swedish Hydro Nats 1 2010 in Ekjsö May 30, here's the results from the 7.5 cc class.

FSR-H 7.5 final results
1. Anders Martinell / 1600p / Eagle 45
2. Fredrik Lundahl / 950p / Taipan 45
3. Mikael Gartne / 788p / Eagle 45
4. Ellert Ohlzon / 625p / Nyström 45 Special
5. Micke Sundgren / 575p / Eagle SGX2

Ellert is blowing over when he runs through Fredrik's rooster... Update: looking more closely, I just noticed that Fredriks boom tubes are broken on the right hand side so there have most likely been some physical contact between the two.



Ellert in the red/wood rigger and Anders Martinelle in his pig-colored Eagle.

Fredrik Lundahl's Taipan 45.

Mikael Gartne's Eagle 45.

Fredrik's Taipan 45.

FSR-H15 Eksjö May 30

This past Sunday we raced the first Swedish Nats round of 2010 in hydro and OTA (Outboard Stock Tunnel - 21 size). The race lake was in Eksjö and we had good to very good weather. On Sunday they raced the H7.5 and H15 classes and it was sunny all day and smooth water. I had to be the race judge for H15 so I have no race pics from this class...

FSR-H15 final results

1. Anders Martinell / 1600p / Eagle 90
2. Niklas Ericksson / 1150p / Bootleg Eagle
3. Mats Aldell / 1125p / Eagle 90
4. Ellert Ohlzon / 300p / Eagle 90

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

CMB .21 VAC "gear drive"

Here are a couple of new pics on the counter rotating CMB .21 VAC gear drive engine. The exterior look (except the new VAC intake and color of the cooling head) looks visually exactly the same as the earlier RSV 07 engine but the internals are almost all new.




Ps, if you are a CMB distributor/shop (or if you're Mauro Braghieri) and want to use my studio photo pictures of the new CMB .21 VAC engines without any logos in the background etc, send me and e-mail with a suggestion and I can send you them in any size you want including high-res psd/tif for print with separate shadows that will blend in in the background in like Indesign. You're free to use them as they are though (including the graphics)... :) / Niklas

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Swedish Rugby

Today I was at my second Rugby match ever in gorgeous weather in Enköping - flipflops on for the first time in 2010! It was Enköping Rugby Klubb vs Stockholm Exiles booth men and women teams from each club. The women match started first and hometown ERK played good for like 20 minutes then Exiles took over and won comfortably...

The ERK guys are the Swedish Champions but had not an easy game by any means. It was very close but they won in the end...

ERK = White dresses
Exiles = Black and yellow dresses

















A couple of weeks ago I was at my first Rugby match ever. It just happens that the Uppsala team have their home field about 350 meters from where I live. The women teams where Uppsala RFC (blue dresses) vs Enköping RK (white). Uppsala won with one try (5p) against zero for ERK... The Uppsala RFC guys played against Södertälje and Uppsala won...


My appartment is about 350 meters straight ahead in this picture.