My final overseas trip with the race team was to Tierp. The track was recently opened and this was the first FIA meeting held there. There was a huge field of Pro Mod cars because this was and still is very much a favourite class in the Nordic countries.

The first practical difficulty was that Ryanair’s Stockholm airport was two hour’s drive south west and Tierp is two hour’s drive north – so four hours to get to the track. The second difficulty was that our sat nav was not up to date with some new roads and we were directed into a maintenance area rather than on to the right route. Although the buildings were not finished the whole facility was impressive although time would tell about the track. There were not many local facilities outside the track and indeed we had to find accommodation in a hotel an hour’s drive north, there was nothing nearer.

This was the first international meeting at Tierp and local law enforcement was obviously concerned about all the foreigners. The best evidence for this was that I was breathalysed twice having never been done before or since. We had gone shopping for groceries in the local town and were stopped on the way back for the first test. We had dinner and most people had a few beers but as designated driver I resisted and sure enough got stopped again on the way out. We did wonder if this was going to happen all weekend but it seems that there was a blitz on the first day but not after.

As far as the racing went Andy only qualified in the bottom half of the field. The bump spot was 6.24 which compares well with the most recent meeting which had a 6.234 bump spot. The top end of the field though is vastly different with a 6.01 in 2011 compared with 5.805 in 2019. The good old Stude was beginning to show its age having started off with a nitrous engine, switched to blown, caught fire and was ready to be replaced as you can tell with the “For sale” sign writing. Andy went out in the first round of eliminations to Johan Lindberg who had been European Champion the previous year.

Other reports in this series:

Hockenheim NitrOlympX 2005
Gardermoen Summer Nationals 2006
Mantorp Park Veidec Festival 2007
Alastaro Nitro Nationals 2009
Kunmadaras, Hungary 2010