Sjödin Motorsport / ÅBM Racing

Last race report for 2022.

And, Sjödin Motorsport / ÅBM Racing are the 2022 Summit EDRS Top Doorslammer Champions!

Feels pretty good to win the championship when we for the first time in many years makes the series for real!

We ended up as runner up at Top Doorslammer round 5 and the finals this year in the series at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway September 9-11.

The weekend started already on Wednesday before the race when I drove the first part to my hometown Vansbro alone to meet up with parts of the team for this weekend for some team building dinner and then continue to the track on Thursday morning.

Before that we made sure to fix all we needed on the Chevelle, I bought the new parts we needed that got damaged on the race before in Sundsvall and got spares are fixed to make sure we would have parts if it would happen again and after that I got the trailer cleaned and organized! Max and Dennis also went the last time for the year to our awesome partner ICA Gärdet and got all the grocery’s we need to survive during the race weekend! They have been with us since 2014 and I can’t describe how much I appreciate my friend Kaare Naess support to my racing!

It wasn’t a lot of cars on this outing either but at least we were 5 cars in the TD class, and we were in the points lead and was for sure planning to stay there in the top when the weekend was over! 

 

The roads we did chose on the way from Vansbro to Norway was not suited for our truck and trailer! They were so crazy narrow so it was really hard to drive, it was some road work that forced us to take roads that was even worse, we checked out a ditch a little too close with the right side of the trailer at a moment but it all went good! And then when it felt like nothing more can make the trip worse we almost fronted with another truck like ten minutes from the track that was in our lane heading straight against us when trying to go around a moped or something so I did step on the brake and turned around it and when I did stuff moved around in the trailer and damaged our winner trophy from Tierp this year, things could have been really bad because of this and I’m just happy I reacted fast to the situation!…

This was the first time in eight years we went to Gardermoen, I’m pretty sure we were there in 2014 the last time! The track did look good like always at Gardermoen but the weather wasn’t with us, it was really cold, around 10-12 degrees Celsius so I was not really sure how the car would react to my tune and I did overpower the track a bit and went into a shake in Q1! The car left pretty ok but then I felt it started to shake so I was off the throttle and just coasted down, Tee Cee made a decent pass after us with some pedaling where I started to shake!

 

But with some data to work from I made a 4.21 @ 293 km/h in Q2, better but not good, little shake and some pedaling to the number 1 position in the qualifying list for a moment! After that we ended the first qualifying day with a 4.11 @ 295 km/h in Q3 and we finally got a full pass even that the car moved around some! Track was a bit tricky due to the cold weather, the 10-12 degrees and no sun during the whole day of course makes the conditions with the track hard to figure out!

Tee Cee made a nice 4.02 @ 295 km/h against us in that round so we both started to find what the track could handle.

First round on Saturday was cancelled due to too cold weather and some rain during the night and morning!.. Sad but it’s nothing we can do anything about and they did working on the track to do the best of the situation and keep it under control so we could be out quickly whenever it stopped.

First round we made on Saturday the car left the line really good and felt good but it started to move left against the center line so I had to pedal it and made a 4.22 @ 248 km/h!

In the last qualifying pass for the weekend we manage to make the weekends first full pass with just a tiny shake but no pedaling! 4.0575 @ 299.63km/h and that did put on in the second place in the qualifying list on the last event for 2022! It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t beautiful, and it took a long time but the cold weather makes it really hard if you try to go fast… Well, we ended up with a 4.0575 @ 299.63km/h and I’m amazed it went that ET and speed with the little power I did put in it!.. Data and tuning changes gave results for sure in that qualifying round so I was happy with that!

Sunday and last race day for the season, and we did actually have some sun and blue sky and you could feel some heat finally!

We were out in first round against Kenneth Lingvald and KLR Motorsports that was struggling during the weekend with different problems but finally started to get the car to work, I was really lazy on the tree that I was during the whole event, really don’t know why because even if I really tried I got reaction times like a snail!… Well anyway I did have power enough to reach the finish line first with a millimeter or so! We won the round with a 4.0575 @ 296.42km/h! And we made sure we are THE EDRS TOP DOORSLAMMER CHAMPIONS in 2022!!!

After that it was time for elimination round 2 and the finals against Tee Cee Racing where they made a better job than us and also made the only 3 second pass for the weekend with a 3.9993 @ 298km/h! A huge congratulations to the whole Team Tee Cee Racing for an awesome performance this weekend and I’m happy that I did loose against just you and that you got an event win on your last race ever in the class!… Yes, this was the last pass for the team that have decided to end their drag racing career after about 25 years, we will miss you guys in the future for sure because you have always been around me since I got involved myself in Top Doorslammer back in 2008! But we did spend one last evening at the track together! 🙂

I gave it a bit too much in the final and the car went slower and to the right in the top end! So, I’m just happy we did have a car without damage with us back home to be honest! We made a 4.06 @ 295km/h in the finals and I must say that I’m happy anyway with figuring out the track so we could make some decent passes to end the year with!

And it’s not so bad making 4 outings and getting 4 trophies during the first real season we make in years! Also, I did say in December 2021 that we are going to make 4 events in the series in 2022 and its time to bring home the biggest trophy of the year and we did!

Nothing of this would have been possible without my awesome team, Dad (Åke), Max, Sofi, John, Krille, Dennis and Fredrik that went with us on the last event!

Our awesome partners during the 2022 season, Åkes Bil & Motor, Birka Motorrenoveringar, Sjödin Motorsport Race Cars, Swecomposite, LSF Custom Lackering, Swelube Amalie Motor Oil, LVV AB, Bengtssons Smide, Loggamera, Clearwrap, SnapOn Pro Tools Peter Hult, ICA Gärdet, W-Linds Bärgning, Kustservice, Supra Trading, T. Grundström Plåtslageri, Jonnie Lindberg Motorsports, Swedol Arninge, CP-Carrillo, Alwerco Svets & Smide, Catch With Care, Edlunds Maskinservice.

Last and absolutely the final event for Sjödin Motorsport / ÅBM Racing in 2022 is to fire up the Chevelle at our partner Swedol in Arninge / Täby (about a minute from our shop) on their event “Swedoldagarna” 25 of October! If you are around, please come by and say hi!

More info about that later.

After that it’s time to start think about what to do in 2023! What I want the most is going to England and Santa Pod Raceway again for The Doorslammers and Main Event in May if we get the opportunity and I find the founding’s for it! And main reason is that I’m looking to adjust my personal best of 3.84 on the 1/8 mile and 5.88 on the 1/4 mile to a 3.7? and a 5.7? I’m pretty sure I got it in the car after looking on the data from when we where at Santa Pod in 2019! And also, it will still be with the same motor that we got in 2019! Without any updates except on the tuning part!

If you are interested in seeing us at Santa Pod Raceway again and want to be a part of it and help us, please don’t hesitate to contact me at andreas@abmracing.se!

Thanks for season 2022!

 

/Andreas