The driving season 2013 is almost finished. It's time to sum it up. This spring I set the target to hit more miles than what I did the previous year. Destiny was in good shape, excluding the fact that she was too thirsty for gas. I checked my notes and the start season date appeared to be in mid-April. Since that we've gathered 1300 miles with Destiny so far.
RACING
In July we participated the Ford Nationals at Alastaro Circuit. Ford Nationals is an event organized by the FMOC and Ford-Freak-Club-of-Finland where you can test your FoMoCo product on drag&track. The rules of this "race day" are such that there are separate classes for all engine types, one for six cylinder engines as well. As it only costs 5 EUR to drag, I had to try. Below is video-evidence of what happened. If it makes you laugh, it really was worth it !
OK. The blue Hardtop beat the shit out of Destiny. BUT the driver was one of the volunteer organizers of the event and therefore had not registered himself in as a competitor. Instead I challenged him in the line-up and he wanted to check my call. Anyhow, driving outside the race, no "official" time for him. For some reason my time is not updated in the result sheet, but like the video confirms, it was 20.393. I found specs for '65 3-speed which talks about 19.3 s drag time, so that's not bad at all.
CRUISING
There are two cruising events to participate every time when it is possible.
Helsinki Cruising Night occurs every first Friday of the month, basically around the year, but actually only when the weather allows. Often criticized to be more of a parking event than a cruising event, due to the small area in market square, which makes people to stay instead cruise. A lot of tourists pass by and they're usually surprised when they see all the cars there. Definitely this is a place to go if you got something to SHOW. Google for 'Stadin Cruising' for pictures from the event.
Vantaa Cruising at the Heureka Science Center's parking lot is my "home-town cruising" and known for it's 'drag strip' where a lot of spectators come to watch the rubber burn on public street. This is an event to GO and occurs every 3rd Friday of the month. Search for 'Vantaa Cruising' on Youtube.
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| Fast food and gasoline in Helsinki in September |
TROUBLE SHOOTING
There has been three problems that were solved during the season.- carburetor
- starter motor
- heater core
For the rest it has been normal things like checking the oil levels and filling her up.
FUEL ECONOMY
Destiny's fuel economy has been lousy. I have earlier checked spark plugs, ignition and timing and many other things in order to minimize the fuel consumption. Now it seems like the replacement of the carburetor and improved vacuum has solved the problem. I drained the gas tank in spring and since that I had driven 1113 miles and filled 207 liters of gasoline until the other day when I felt the tank was low, but not empty.
Now there are the numbers I've been searching for ! And this is the overall average including driving the highway at 50-55 mph and cruising in the city.
| Miles | Kms | Fuel liters | Liters/100km | MPG |
| 1113 | 1791 | 207 | 11,6 | 20,4 |
Now there are the numbers I've been searching for ! And this is the overall average including driving the highway at 50-55 mph and cruising in the city.
AWARDS AND TROPHIES
Did you check the above mentioned results from the drag race ? The other day I received a package via mail and here it is. First trophy for winning the class of 4-6 cyl. engines. I am proud of Destiny, despite being the only participant in the class.
PLANNING THE FUTURE
Little by little Destiny has become - perfect may not be the right word - but sort of complete. The tires still need to be renewed and other small things here and there. But in overall, I can not make her significantly better anymore. So I've started to keep my eyes open for a new project, which seems to be hard to find. But that's worth an other post.
