Scandinavian Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden

Words and photos by Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes

Michael Nord (Ivan Sansom photo)

The last weekend in August saw the FIA European Drag Racing tour descend on Tierp Arena, the only all concrete track utilised by the series, for the penultimate stop on the 2016 series. This year’s edition of the Scandinavian Internationals also represents the mid point of a fairly frenetic month with the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim the preceding weekend and the Euro Finals at Santa Pod after a weekend off to regroup - a pretty tough schedule for what are essentially part-time racers. Bumper entries, some spectacular personal bests and a huge crowd on the Saturday were the hallmarks of the weekend, and although dodging the rain drops on Sunday ultimately proved to be unsuccessful it was only at the expense of one of the FIA class finals.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster

Stefan Gunnarsson (Rose Hughes photo)

The fuel car show at Tierp was something of a hit and miss affair. When it hit it was stunning with the top four qualifiers all in the threes (a first in Europe) with Stefan Gunnarsson and the BSG team leading the way with a 3.9007/308.11 (the first Swedish team into the 3-second zone) although a subsequent shot with significantly quicker short numbers resulted in a spectacular if expensive fireball.