ON THIS PAGE YOU CAN FIND INFORMATION THAT IS NO LONGER NEWS, BUT CAN GIVE YOU A FEELING OF WHAT THE PAST HAS BEEN LIKE. Results are posted on the results-page during race season may-september.

February 22nd 2008: Here are some photos of the new Peugeot Expert service vehicle which will be used by team Kågered and our partners in connection with activities throughout the year.



This project is a cooperation between team Kågered, Peugeot Transportbilar, SNA Europe/Bahco, System Edström Bilinredningar, Billackeringen Mjölby, KAMA Fritid, AMALIE/Swelube, Qpax and Bilsport Magazine






INTERIOR STORAGE SYSTEM by System Edström Bilinredningar and equipped with tools from SNA Europe/Bahco 
Front, roof and sidebars are from Qpax










 

December 20th: The race dates for 2008 have been
posted based on the info we have today. Our intention is also to run at Santa Pod during the Easter Thunderball (not listed), but as the dates collide with a major exhibition in Sweden we are unsure at this time on how we best serve all parties involved. A decision is expected during january. 


December 18th: It is the last week before Christmas and there still remains three days of travel for Micke before he can take a break and enjoy some days od Christmas celebrations among family and friends.

We have not been reporting much the last month. It is not because no activities have been going on.. on the contrary. A lot has been and is going on behind the scene. We have been in meetings with our sponsors a lot for planning, we have also planned for what we hope will mean improvements performancewise in 2008. We hope to be able to tell you some more before long. 




The Kågered/Bahco stand at Bilsportmässan

November 26th: The last public show for this year ended sunday evening. Team Kågered enjoyed three busy days with many interested visitors at BILSPORTMÄSSAN in Stockholm, Sweden november 23-25th. Performed in cooperation with SNA Europe/BAHCO


Well-known graphic artist Jüri Kann presented a piece of art of Mickes dragster at the show. More info about Jüri Kann and his graphic services can be found at http://www.penhouse.se (presented in english) 



November 19: During the past weekend we had most of our crew members on site in Värna for some planning ahead. We also loaded all equipment for the coming exhibition in Stockholm this week.



November 14th: VIASAT Sport are currently broadcasting the European Drag Racing Championship 2007. Click on the link below to be taken to the schedule
http://www.powerracing.eu/broadcast_viasat.htm


November 7th: The 2007 FIA/UEM European Drag Racing Championships - Official Season Review DVD can now be ordered via our online store


Disc 1 - Cars (220 mins), Disc 2 - Bikes (120 mins) approx. Click HERE to watch a trailer!
 

October 31st: Today we launch our online webshop, which we have filled with some goodies to start with and will fill with more products continously. Looking for a christmas or birthday gift? Our replicas comes at reasonable prices and the postage is included! Check it out by clicking on the "online store" button to your right.

October 17th: WHAT´s UP? From the outside it may seem like a quiet time of year for us, but on the opposite.. this is the time we plan ahead, look at what we need to invest in over the winter, close deals with sponsors, communicate with the other teams in the class on issues common for all of us. We also have some public appearances coming up before we park the dragster and start working with maintenance. 

This week there is not much so much activity in the work shop as Micke is mostly in meetings. Next week Micke and three of our mechanics leave for the US, where they will attend the NHRA race in Las Vegas and the SEMA trade show after that.    



WHERE and WHEN CAN YOU SEE EUROPEAN DRAG RACING ON TV?

October 4th: TV broadcasters that can be seen in many countries (also outside Europe) send programs from the 2007 FIA European championship in drag racing. Click on image or follow link to see what channels that are confirmed to send (viewing times are available for some).
 


http://www.powerracing.eu/broadcast.htm





September 27th: Yesterday we went to Ljungstedtska gymnasiet (the biggest college) in Linköping, where we met with student mechanics under education. Some will be automechanics and some will choose to focus on  heavy duty vehicles. Micke told them about the technical parts of car and dragracing in general. He also stressed how important it is to learn english, swedish and maths well to be in motorsports. Our sponsor Bilsport also provided magazines for the students, which was much appreciated. Thanks to all participating students and teachers, we had a great day! The photos show two of the 5 groups we met with!






photo: Kenta gives directions to Lasse

September 24th: Our new storage container was fit in place yesterday by the great help of our friends. A tricky task as we did not want to remove any of the grown up birches, but it turned out just great. After painting it the same color as the work shop, we think it will blend in perfect in the environment.
 

photo: Micke, Max and Kalle monitor while Lasse slides the 4 tonnes heavy container in place


 

September 21st: Two days of roadshowing in Karlstad and Örebro went well and all equipment are back at base. Meanwhile, our new 40-foot storage container has arrived and we will start reorganising shortly.

The coming period include less public appearances, as we enter a phase of meetings, renewing contracts and planning ahead towards next season.  

Micke is also planning a trip to Las Vegas at the end of october to visit the SEMA show and preceeding NHRA drag racing event at Las Vegas.

Meanwhile team coordinator Åsa enter a university course in Linköping, learning more about economic analysis of public sport.




September 19th noon: Really crowded at Ahlsell´s in Karlstad today and the photo was sent from Micke & crew as they are preparing fireup of the car.



September 18th: Our racing trailer has been reloaded and prepared for the two day road show in Karlstad and Örebro that is coming up. Product experts from Bahco and 3M together will join Micke at Ahlsell in Karlstad wednesday 9-15 (fireup of dragster scheduled at 12.30). On thursday the same is scheduled for Örebro at Arvid Svensson´s location



September 13th: All equipment are safely back at base after the trip to England. The coming will be a weekend off from racing for the whole team. Before that a day or two  days spent on preparing for the arrival of a 40 foot container, to fit VIP-tents and other hospitality equipment. Next week we display the dragster and racing trailer in Karlstad and Örebro together with Bahco and 3M.     



September 9th: Elimination results have been posted on the  results 2007 page. New top fuel dragster champion 2007 Urs Erbacher from Switzerland, who also took the win at Santa Pod. Team Kågered had a misery weekend with malfunctioning parts and setup struggle. Micke was taken out by winner Erbacher already in the quarter finals. Our congrats to team Erbacher, the championship really took and unexpected turn when both championship leader Joon and 2nd placed Carter was out of competition in the quarter finals. For a full run by run report, please visit 

www.eurodragster.com
 




Micke previews on eurodragster

September 4th:  We have started the countdown towards the European Finals at Santa Pod this weekend. Read Mickes preview published on   Eurodragster today. Team Kågered is (unfortunately) not involved in the chase for the championship title this time. Currently in the lead is Lex Joon (NL) followed by Andy Carter (GB). The danish owned dragster that Carter is piloting was the championship winner in 2006, then with Håkan Nilsson in the cockpit.
Joon´s lead is 42 points which on the paper is pretty comfortable. However, this is top fuel racing and nothing is to be taken for granted. It will be really interesting to follow the battle on site. Team Kågered will of course do the best we can during the race at Santa Pod and look forward to some good, close competition!




Truck driver Kenta (left) and Micke
September 3rd: Our transporters left base sunday evening and travel with TT-line Trelleborg-Travemunde during monday. Plans are for arrival at Santa Pod mid day wednesday and the rest of the crew fly to England wednseday evening.




Thomas replaces..
August 27th: Our engine mechanic Gary Page is to pilot in nitro funny car at Santa Pod in connection with the European Finals. Our longtime crewmember Thomas (who has been taking a break from drag racing since june) will join us to fill in for Gary. Gary will also be with us much as times allows it.  
 

 ..Gary for the European Finals. Page to pilot in nitro funny car..




photo: Johan and Jessica from SNA Europe/BAHCO at the TRAILER Trucking Festival

August 27th: The Trailer Trucking Festival
Trailer Trucking Festival at Mantorp Park, Sweden was held august 24-25th. Team Kågered, Bahco and Hinz/Palfinger were in the same stand and showed products, the racing trailer and top fuel dragster. Team Kågered´s exhibition trailer was with Trailer Magazine for the event.


photo: Team Kågered´s Kent Karlsson dared take a ride in one of the Hinz/PALFINGER cranes on site. Here together with Benny from Hinz.


.. the view from 35 meter above the ground was reportedly breathtaking! Photo by Kenta

The prestigious Nordic Trophy competition was also performed at the Trucking Festival. The people´s choice and winner was the beautiful Shogun bulk truck & trailer owned by Mika Auvinen from Finland. Paint by our sponsor Mjölby Billackering! Our sincere congratulations to you all! 


the exhibition trailer were used for TRAILER magazine´s stand




Magnus Hinz from Hinz/Palfinger arrives with one of the 6(!) transporters on display at Mantorp
 
August 23th: Today we have been at Mantorp Park to build our stands for the Trucking Festival. The trade show is open friday noon-6pm and saturday 9 am-6 pm. Friday evening also includes the Nordic Trophy exhibition, where the best appearing transporters in the Nordic region are in competition for recognition and glory. Something really worth looking at! Hundreds of trucks/transporters have arrived and keep on arriving until the opening of the show. If you plan a visit to the Trucking Festival, make sure to stop by us for a chat or to take a look at the fine products presented by SNA Europe/Bahco and Hinz/PALFINGER 


Johan from SNA Europe/Bahco Tools assist in assembling the carpet in our stand


Micke and Kenta discuss the layout of the stand by the SCANIA Hyr truck




Mikael Larsson (right) is in the progress of taking a driver´s license in methanol funny car
 
August 20th: Micke spent most of the past weekend  at a smaller track outside Sundsvall, Sweden where he was monitoring and supporting team Mikael Larsson. Larsson, who accquired Micke Kågered´s methanol funny car some months ago, is in the process of taking a drivers license for the funny car, to be in competetion 2008. Progess were reportedly satisfying and according to the plan Micke & Micke had before the weekend. Mikael Larsson´s action was also monitored by a representative for the Swedish Autosport Association.
 


One of the thousands of photos in our archive.. Shot in England 2003- Uffe, Kjell and Robert by the dragster..

August 14th: Team Kågered´s photo archive consist of literally thousands of photos, collected over many years. Many of which we have taken ourselves, but also many photos shot by friends, fans and professional photographers. We have not been very good at publishing much (sorry.. as always it seem to be a matter of time). However, as a token of our good intentions we want to give you a better feeling about the fact that dragracing really is a team sport, involving many people and to show you some of the tasks we perform during a race..

Our good friend Christer Abrahamson (also the speaker during the race at Mantorp Park), went with us to the race in Alastaro Finland in july. He took a great number of photos while he was staying with our crew and we have put toghether a slide show of some of them. CLICK HERE if you want to see it. It is a Power Point slide show- a new window will open and ask if you want to open the file. click on the arrows to move between the images. After you are finished, just close the window.




August 13th: The exhibition trailer is back at base after a weekend at the Bilsport ClassicGrenseträff
in Halden, Norway together with Bilsport (sorry we don´t have a better photo to present). Some of the other top fuel teams are preparing to leave for Hockenheim and the race there this coming weekend. Our belief is that it is going to be a great race. Team Kågered has howvever chosen to focus on the Trailer Trucking Festival, an important exhibition for ourselves as well as many of our sponsors. We will be present with two trailers and the dragster at Mantorp Park and  continue our preparations for it this week. Part of our mechanic crew also work on getting the last parts race ready for the European Finals at Santa Pod three weeks from now.   


August 9th: We spent two weeks at Mantorp Park and will return in there later in august for the Trailer Trucking Festival and then again in late september for the STCC final. It is great to have one of europe´s finest racing tracks just around the corner, even if it does not mean we can go there for practice (extensive track preparations needed for that). We were present in connection with the event Bilsport Action Meet last weekend and it is fun to see that the interest for taking ones car to the strip and get real timing on it, is so popular. 




Part of team Kågered together with Magnus Samuelsson, world´s strongest man 1998
from the left: Max, Micke, Mika, Kenta, Magnus and Andreas

July 30th: 8.30 pm - The results from Mantorp Park have been posted on the results 2007 page. Disappointment for Micke Kågered when the blower belt came off already in the quarter finals and Micke was taken out of competition by Thomas Nathås.

Tommi Haapanen in our opinion the one who impressed most during this event with a quickest time of 4.88 and slowest time of 4.92!- well done Tommi & crew! Our congrats also to team Andy Carter to the new european time record of 4.732 and to team Erbacher for running a stunning speed of 505 km over the finish line!

This was the quickest ever top fuel field in europe, where only 8 hundreds of a second divided number 2 qualifier Urs Erbacher (4.80 sec) from number 7 qualified Tommi Haapanen (4.88 sec). Micke qualified as #4 with 4.83 seconds, which also is his personal best by one hundred of a second!


Micke launch at Mantorp.. photo by Ivan Sansom

Team Kågered disappointed with the early finish of the event, although content we have now evidently performed at a level that we believe is (and will be) required to have success in the top fuel dragster class.. for next event at Santa Pod and also looking ahead towards next season.

Our congratulations to Mantorp Park and everybody involved in providing us the best track ever- it certainly gave most classes a boost performancewise and at this time there is no doubt Mantorp Park is the quickest track in Europe. We will just have to wait and see if Santa Pod Raceway can continue this trend during the European Finals in september.

For a complete report with round to round notes from Mantorp, please visit www.eurodragster.com


In a good mood all weekend.. Johan (brother of team coordinator Åsa) with fiancée Annika were among our hospitality crew at Mantorp Park.



July 28th: 11 pm. late night again at Mantorp Park. No improvement for Micke saturday and he ended in the 4th position with 4.83 sec in the quickest ever top fuel field in Europe, where Andy Carter backed up a new european ET record with 4.73 seconds.

Only 8 hundreds of a second time difference between car #2-car (Urs Erbacher 4.80) to the #7 car in the field(Tommi Haapanen 4.88). Mickes last run saturday was a 4.98 sec run where the engine dropped a cylinder early and Micke shut off well before the finish line. Micke is up against Thomas Nathås from Norway in the quarter finals. Nathås ran 4.86 seconds and qualified as number five.

We have had close to 400 guests on site saturday, and we were happy to notice many stayed to see the last run in the evening although it got pretty late. In sunday´s elimination we all start from zero. First over the finish line is the name of the game at 9.30 am for Micke & co. Results are reported live by www.eurodragster.com




Micke goes 4.83 on friday -photo by Ivan Sansom

July 27th: 11 pm. Long day today at Mantorp Park.. The first day of qualifications was (of course) delayed due to rain showers. One round was completed at 5.30 pm, Micke currently 2nd quickest by running a 5.83 sec run at a speed of 467 km. Urs Erbacher quickest at this time with 4.80 seconds/505 (!) km. Micke was of course happy to finally see his crew´s hard work paying off, although the car lost power after 300 meters (one hurt head), so the run was less than perfect. We can show you two photos from the run as a courtesy of photographers Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes. For complete results we ask that you visit the Eurodragster website   


Same 4.83 run at 100 feet from another angle- photo by Rose Hughes


July 25th: 9.30 pm another day spent at Mantorp Park and we are pretty much ready, both to meet our guests and to get going with the qualifications on friday. We still await part of the crew to arrive during thursday- Emil, Gary and Terry. Press day today with both swedish tv channels SVT and TV4 present, assumedly news flashes a preview to be sent thursday.

Our plan for this weekend is to let the pros at Eurodragster report for us too, since we know we are in for a busy wekend. If time allows it, there may be late night reports from us too, but at this point we ask that you check www.eurodragster.com for results and comments from Top Fuel Dragster and of course all other classes.  




The Mantorp Park dragracing strip 2 days before event start..
July 24th: 11 pm- a busy day at Mantorp Park for team Kågered and our pit space building is almost done. Wednesday include showing the car for invited press and most our our mechanics crew will also join the rest of our staff. Weather forecast has improved for the weekend and tuesday was all "non wet" around the track area.   



July 23rd: 8 pm- we are in position with our two trailers at Mantorp. Weather cleared now and we will start building our pitarea tuesday. The dragster is on display during the press meeting wednesday afternoon.

Team Kågered coordinator Åsa has contributed with a general update/preview article for the event, which can be read at www.eurodragster.com


Transporters ready for departure to Mantorp..
 
July 23rd: 10 a.m. Our two double deck trailers have been literally stuffed with equipment needed for the racing operation as well as to build our VIP area at Mantorp Park. The two SCANIA trucks just pulled the trailers from our base in Varna and headed towards Mantorp. Pouring rain over the area now and forecasted to continue until late tonight. Our first mission is to get the transporters in position, wash them and if weather allows it, start mounting the awnings and VIP-tents. Better forecast for tomorrow, so we may decide to postpone some of our activities a bit. By thursday evening all will be set and ready for the arrival of guests on friday as well as the start of the race with two scheduled qualification runs on friday and two more on saturday.

We have posted the entry list for the event at Mantorp Park together with the preliminary time schedule


July 17th: A Shipment arrived today from Gary Burgin in the US with some parts we ordered for Mantorp. Await another shipment just the days before the event starts. That is the struggle for all teams really, you never know in advance what you are going to need for next race. Some parts we naturally keep in stock (like cranks, pistons and rods). Luckily, in top fuel dragracing we are a bit like a big family. Most teams try and help each other out to a great extent should it be needed during an event. Yes, it can mean you get beat by someone who just borrowed crucial parts from you, but generally we belive in the tale "what goes around comes around". Help people when you can and they will help you back. That is the way it works in our sport and it has worked great both ways for us (at every event actually)..   



July 16th: The preparations for the hospitality activity at Mantorp continues. While some crew members have enjoyed some time off racing after Finland, others have been working preparing parts and with the planning for Mantorp.

Starting tuesday and the rest of this week we work "hands on" with loading of all remaining equipment, and expect to move out to Mantorp on monday. Our staff for the event at Mantorp include some 40 people where 15 work with and around the race car as they normally would, while the focus for the rest is to care for our guests.



July 11th: The administration of the hospitality activity at Mantorp Park is on its way and all guests (invited both by us and our sponsors) can expect mail from us in the beginning of next week.

We have posted the entry list for the event at Mantorp Park together with the preliminary time schedule




Micke and Max preparing a spare engine to replace the broken one after round #1

July 8th: The European dragracing championship event has been on this weekend at Alastaro, Finland. A close field where 6 of the 8 qualified cars performed within 15 hundreds of a second! Rain over the area meant heavy delays on elimination day sunday, but all the credit to the FHRA crew who worked hard and efficient to get the track dry. Micke up against Andy Carter in the quarterfinals. Micke´s 5.13 against Carters 4.93 meant team Kågered was out of competition and Carter was on to the semi finals, together with Janne Ahonen (5.18), Lex Joon (5.04) and Urs Erbacher (4.82sec/502 km!). Göran Edman and Alan Jackson, who are in charge of tuning Mickes´s car comments; "We had two options and we choose to set up the car safe rather than aggresive, as we thought the track was not as good as last night with the bad weather we have been having. Our strategy was to get the car down the track decently quick and we did.. but it showed to be too defensive as the track  was better than we anticipated".

On the positive side  is that the car is performing better and better, we now have a better recipe and base to work from than we had last year when we constantly kept breaking parts. We have already now serviced and prepared the car for Mantorp and head back to Sweden monday morning.

The semifinals and final was cancelled due to rain!
Results from the quarter finals have been posted on the results page. Additional information from the event can also be found at www.fhra.fi 


July 2nd: Countdown starts for the race in Alastaro, Finland this upcoming weekend. Monday-tuesday we make the last preparations and load our racing trailer with all equipment. Arrival at track thursday morning. Qualifications is on friday-saturday with eliminations on sunday. We plan to report results and our comments every evening after all runs are completed (starting friday).

The entry list in Top Fuel at Alastaro (as we know it) is as follows;Thomas Nathås (N), Lex Joon (NL), Micke Kågered (S), Andy Carter (UK), Tommi Haapanen (SF), Janne Ahonen (SF), Urs Erbacher (CH), Siw Nystad (N), Jöran Persåker (SF)





 

June 28th: Today our professional designer Fredrik from Billackeringen Mjölby is here to mount decals on the front of the awning for the new exhibition trailer. We have fitted the awning on the trailer and currently work with the completion of it inside our workshop. It is also Fredrik, who designed the racing trailer as well as the look of Mickes dragster. This new trailer will be kept neutral in its paint scheme, but with a touch of the Kågered spirit here and there. Its first public appearance will be at Mantorp Park at the end of july, in connection with the FIA European Championship event. 


THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR SOME FUN..


Micke and Max having fun..
June 27th: Not much to report this week as we have a "quiet" week all by ourselves in the workshop. However we could not resist showing you this picture where our youngest mechanic Max surprised Micke by bringing his "homemade vehicle" to the workshop today. Max is a genius with moped engines and this "thing" turned out pretty quick although not advisable to run on public roads.. No, Micke could not resist trying it, although is not planning to the swap the dragster for it.. 


June 24th: We are back after a three day "midsummer" break among family and friends


June 8th: We have just drawn 5 names to recieve a pair each of our nitro racing mechanics gloves. One person in Denmark, one in the UK and three in Sweden (we email you separately)

Thanks for the entries and we hope the winners will enjoy the gloves. It turns out they are handy for other tasks as well, like gardening and they can be machinewashed for a longer life..   

This weekend the continued work with the exhibition trailer continues- the awning construction has just been completed and mounted, electricity is being installed, the exterior decorating is getting there..  


Introducing our Nitro Racing CH3NO2 allround mechanics gloves..


June 1st: Our brand new Nitro Racing CH3NO2 mechanics gloves comes in five colours. For ladies/youth we made them Bright pink, Apple green and Turquoise. For the larger sizes we produced them in Dark grey and Black.




June 1st Our transporters are back at base and this weekend unpacking, cleaning and reorgansing of everything in the trailer is on the agenda.



Our Gatorz quiz has closed and we have randomly drawn a winner among the many right answers (the answer by the way was 11).

The winner is Paul Sampson of Polesworth in the UK!

We will be happy to place the pair of Gatorz eyewear in the mail to you shortly together with an signed autographcard from Micke. Our congratulations and thanks to all for participants. We will think of a new quiz with a fine prize and launch it shortly, so check back next week if you wish to take a new chance! 


The pair of Gatorz sunglasses goes to ..Paul Sampson in the UK!


Transporters booked Travemunde-Trelleborg with TT-line. Arrival to Linköping from the UK on thursday
May 29th: 7.30 pm local time
We returned to Sweden tuesday evening and could note that it was a great deal warmer here than the in UK we left this morning. The transporters currently in Belgium on their way back to Sweden with estimated arrival on thursday night. With the dragster race ready, we will devote our time to complete our new exhibition trailer. Long time crew member Thomas did his last appearance with us in England. Regrettably other commitments means he do not have the time needed to spend on racing any longer. Still good friends we will of course see each other off the track once in a while. Our skilled mechanics Gary Page and Terry Giles will manage Thomas duties on the engine during the races from now on.




photo: Frenetic activity around the car when we were in for an engine change in between runs saturday

Monday May 28th: The eliminations at Santa Pod Raceway was cancelled at 1 p.m. local time after rain had constantly been pouring down for more than 24 hours. The two runs that were run saturday have been posted on the results page. 



May 20th: SUMMARY TEST WEEKEND
Sunday afternoon and we have finished the two days testing here at Santa Pod raceway in England.


Alan (left) and Emil take a moment to look through data and decide the changes in setup in between runs.

Emil comments on the weekend; "We have a lot of new components on the car and have been testing some different setups this weekend. A tiny change in setup may result in a huge difference in behaviour of the car at the track and we have seen some of that only today. The goal is of course to have the car go smooth and quick down the track without tire shakes. So what we do is to laborate with different setups to the clutch and fuel system among other things". He continues; "this is one of the rare opportunities we have to test setups that would not be the first ones we have in mind during a race weekend. Hopefully the information we have gathered and evaluated this weekend will show useful in what lies ahead of us next weekend".


Mia and Robert worked together on the clutch and were in a good mood throughout the weekend.


Max doubles for Micke in the cockpit during the transport from the pit area to the startline.


May 12th: Here are some photos from today´s road show with Hinz/PALFINGER in our base town Linköping


The setting was by the beautiful castle of Bjärka-Säby


Magnus Hinz (left) is the president of Hinz Fösräljnings AB that manufacture the vast range of PALFINGER products in Sweden

Micke represented the team together with Lill, Kenta and Åsa (as always behind the camera). Their new Gatorz sunglasses that were delivered only this morning came in handy this bright and sunny day. 


Micke together with another sponsor- Billackeringen Mjölby that produced the dragster picture for the trailer. Left owner Håkan and far right designer Fredrik (the dragster photo is by Stefan Boman and the material provided by 3M)    


May 11th: We have just loaded the dragster for the exhibition here in our home town Linköping saturday at Bjärka/Säby Nya Slott between 11-15. If you are in the neighbourhood you are very welcome to come an visit us!

Two weeks to go to the first European Championship event at Santa Pod Raceway in England. We have placed the official entry list HERE. Ten top fuel dragster teams have entered, wherof Micke is one out of two swedish drivers (the other one being Jöran Persåker). For more information about the track and the event, please visit www.santapod.com


May 9th: Updates have been made to our sponsors page to include an insight to our ideas and concept when working with sponsorship, which is one of our key tasks and we find it highly interesting!

We know we live in a constantly changing world. What works today, may not work tomorrow. Some facts however, seem to remain fundamental and unchanged over time. Having a clear concept idea, sticking with it over time and refining it has taken us to where we are today. Feel free to share, learn from or disagree with our thoughts on sponsorship!  



May 9th: The tech inspection yesterday went well and our Irish Wilson double deck racingtrailer has now been reregistered into the Swedish system. It will make things easier for us when it comes to insurances and not least the annual tech inspections.. Micke spent his day in Örebro today, finishing the last machine work needed by the help of our supplier and sponsor Custom Racing. Their knowledge and machine park is a resource that can not be praised enough!
 



May 7th: Above is a photo from the exhbition in Anderslöv we participated in May 4-5th at NyaBilverkstaden together with BAHCO.

This week the last updates are made to the race car. It may seem as we spend an awful lot of hours on updating and we are (and we have). This investment in updating was the key when we decided to buy this car instead of a turn key combination from the US. We hope and gather we will get more value for the money this way and maybe more important, we do not have to start from scratch completely. We have improved things, but it is still the same car Micke is used to and feels confident piloting and that too is important.
 

"THE FUNNY CAR HAS LEFT THE BUILDING"

Mikael Larsson (right) will operate Micke Kågered´s funny car starting 2007.. To the left team mechanic Jonas from team Larsson

May 2nd: Team Kågered´s beloved methanol funny car moved out of our base in Linköping the past weekend. Its new home is with Mikael Larsson in Sandviken, ca one hours drive north of Stockholm. Kågered and Larsson have signed a contract, that means Larsson operates the metahnol funny car from now on with necessary assistance and knowledge provided by team Kågered. Micke Kågered comments; "Mikael and I have been in contact  on a regular basis for more than a year and has finally sorted the last details out, which is great. Not only does the car stay in Sweden, but we also get another competitive car back into the methanol class on a longterm basis", says Micke and continues "do I feel sad about leaving the car in someone elses care? Not really. I have full confidence in Mikael Larsson and his crew and I will also be highly involved providing my knowledge until they feel they get to the point where they can manage it all by themselves. I consider it a longterm commitment and am looking forward to help getting a new team going. I also hope to have help from some of our skilled mechanics, like Göran "Emil" Edman, who has really been the person in charge of the tuning of the car. I know Mikael´s goal for his "rookie" year is to get his FIA license and get to know the car, after that my hope is that we will see him run the full FIA series in 2008".



April 23rd 2007: Two weeks of road showing with Hinz has been completed with good results. Now that all equipment is back in Linköping, we continue to work with the last details on the dragster, for once we wait for a new computer to arrive within the nearest week. The project with our new exhibition trailer is proceeding nicely and it is a bit like a puzzle where you need to fit one piece at a time after having custom designed everything. Doors, awning, interior etc. We continue this work up to the point where we travel to England in mid may. The exhibition trailers will be showed at Mantorp Park in connection with the race there in july. After that awaits three exhibitions in august-september together with the Bilsport and Trailer Magazine´s.
 


April 18th: Busy day at Stigs Center in Gothenburg today. Off towards Örebro this evening



April 17th: New day, new town to visit for our road show. Today it is Borås.

 
April 16th: Above a photo of the location for today´s road show in Jönköping



April 16th 7a.m: After two days of work shop activities, the equipment is ready to roll again. Micke secures the dragster and the transporters are off for a 90 minutes drive to Jönköping, today´s road show location.






April 15th: A weekend in team Kågered´s work shop. Mechanic Mia sorts out bolts, while Emil takes time to improve details on the dragster.
 


The Scania Hyr truck is Kenta´s baby and after a week on the road it needs caring for too..






April 13th: Växjö was the road show location friday and above you can see the setting for this day. Eager mechanics await the return of the dragster to its base in Linköping, where pre season activities will be on going all weekend. Monday morning the transporters are off for a two hour drive to Jönköping where next week´s road show have its start. 




April 12th: A bright sunny day in Kalmar, where the road show is stationed today thursday. Above a picture from the preparations this morning. Location Rasta Kalmar.




April 11th: ..and the next town to get a visit was Halmstad, the location being Ejnarssons Svets. Show by day and transport by night, that is the idea and all vehicles by that continue towards Kalmar wednesday night. Then awaits Växjö on friday before team Kågered´s transporters are brought back to base for  continued maintenance of the dragster saturday-sunday.





April 10th: First day of the Hinz/Palfinger road show and Micke is in Malmö. Pictured is the famous Malmö skyline with the "turning torso" building together with team Kågered´s transporters and the Palfinger equipment that are on display. Tonight the trip go to Halmstad, which is tomorrow´s road show location.   



April 3rd: Updating of dragster, road show, exhibition trailer.. a lot on the agenda, but we are getting there.. The dragster is going on tour next week with Micke and Hinz/Palfinger, which means a break in the mechanics work on it for two weeks. "Time runs quickly, but we are pretty where we planned to be in our pre season work with the car and spare parts", says Micke. During the Easter holiday we load everything and head to Malmö, which is the first stop on our road show. We have updated the list with locations.


March 22nd: Our team page have been given a face lift and we have added some more information about our crew and the constellation of team Kågered the race season 2007! Dragracing is just like football, you need to hang on to your best players and occasionally  switch positions and players!


 

March 21st: TIME TO CONVERT?
There is always a good sense of humour in our team and sometimes it appears most unexpectedly. Notice anything strange with this picture? Mechanics Thomas and Mika decided it was time to provide Micke with a jet dragster.. The question is only if the tape will be strong enough to hold the pipe?? 


March 17th: What goes on in our workshop on a regular day?

photo: Max preparing a head..
Team Kågered´s youngest mechanic Max is only 16.. He came to us in 2006 and now divides his time between school and a place as an apprentice with Micke. On tuesdays and fridays he joins Micke to work with the race car engines or whatever is needed. Young, but already skilled from several years of moped tuning, Max has rapidly got the hang of the technical side of dragracing and is by now pretty used to handle heads, cranks, pistons and rods, blocks and other fun stuff you find on a race car engine!  


photo: Micke preparing rods & pistons..
As for Micke, the moving of the workshop to his premises in Linköping, means he is in charge of the day to day work around the race car in a way he has not been while the dragster was located in Eskilstuna. A heavier work load in a sense, but also on top of things. Knowing Micke as a very thorough and dedicated  person, the rest of the team gather this is  just the way he likes it.. and he is not alone.

Part of the team is highly involved in the day to day matters, where for instance Emil and Åsa order parts, handle logistics etc. Kenta, together wih Micke and Åsa is highly involved in the planning of the road shows and exhibitions. During the weekends mechanics Mika and Thomas make the two hour drive from Eskilstuna to join us in the workshop. The british members of the team including Alan Jackson keep in contact with the rest of us and together we make sure preparations are going according to plan and at this time they are!


March 6th: We have finally come around to (almost) finishing a new page we have had in pipeline for a long time.. Our new media page presents information about some of the medias that cover dragracing. We also present to you some of the photograpers (or rather photojournalists) we work with. They generously fill you in on how they work, what camera equipment they use and they have also selected three photos each related to team Kågered´s operation with their personal comments. We hope you will enjoy this new feature and perhaps find your way to forums you did not know of before! 

March 6th: Just remembered we promised to show you the new design of the back of the trailer. So here it is.. (click to enlarge!) The photo we used is shot by swedish photographer Stefan Boman of Bomanfoto.

If you want at better look at it, you are most welcome to come and see us live at any of the numerous events we will be out on this year (starting after Easter) The agenda will be updated a bit further on with road show dates and more..


March 5th: We are back from Gothenburg and the motorshow. Our stand was well visited during all four days. A big thank you to all who came to see us during the show and of course to our cooperating partners Bahco, 3M, Amalie Motor Oil and Sector Alarm. Now we enter a phase where we will work more intensively with the race car and all equipment, mainly in our new work shop in Linköping. Our public appearances continues in april again, starting with two week long road show in Sweden. More on this to follow.. 


March 1st: First day of the Gothenburg Motorshow is over and we bring you some photos from our stand;

Sören and Ronnie from 3M show the prototyp of the new Speedglas welding helmet among other things (here shown together with Mickes racing helmet)


The dragster and transporters on display..


Bahco show a vast selection of
auto related tools


"Did you know that.. Dragsters can reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this sentence.."

february 26th: We have updated the dragracing page with plenty of "worthless but fun facts", some of which you may have seen before. If not, we advise that you read and review. Top fuel dragracing is really something else, don´t you think?!




Micke oversees the mounting of his dragster image

february 22nd: We got the transporters back from paint yesterday, but there was no time to cover the back of the trailer with Micke´s dragster at that time.. so we brought Mattias and Fredrik from Billackeringen to our new shop instead (see above)- we will keep you waiting for the result, but can tell you we gather it will be awesome! The photo was shot by top photographer Stefan Boman and even at this giant size the photo is amazingly good. We promise to bring you the result in a day or two.. Behind the racing trailer, you can maybe glimpse the new trailer we recently accquired. The plan is to keep it exclusively for hospitality and road show purposes. It is "raw", so we start designing from scratch and hope to finish what is needed in time for the race at Mantorp Park (at the end of july). 



february 20th: What´s up? There has been one week of silence from us, but we are a bit like "busy bees" at the moment.. Micke spends a great deal of time on racing engines (belive it or not, but he is good at it!) With the expert help of Custom Racing Services, blocks, heads, cranks etc are being thoroughly checked and prepared. The racing trailer is still in Mjölby.. we decided to do a little something extra while it is in for minor paint work. Micke wanted his full sized dragster on photo on the back of the trailer, so that is what is cooking right now. The experts at 3M adhesive is of course helping us out here and Billckeringen in Mjölby is producing and mounting it all. When the transporters are back in our new work shop, we will start preparing and load all equipment needed for next week´s motorshow in Gothenburg. 




Truck driver Kenta ready for take off from Värna this morning..
february 12th: Today the transporters are off to Billackeringen in Mjölby, a 40 minutes drive from our base in Värna. Updates of paint and sticker layout is on the agenda for the double deck trailer all week.

We are continously booking road show activities together with our sponsors for the months of april, may, june and september. We are in for a busy exhibition year, which is just the way we prefer it!


MICKE STICK BY THE BAHCO DRAGSTER and IMPROVES IT!

Photo: Micke by the dragster he has faith in

february 5th: It may seem like nothing much has been going on in team Kågered when it comes the "dragster issue" this winter. However, a lot of acitivity behind the scene can not be reported until all information is official. It is no secret we were unhappy with the way last season turned out and we decided as soon as the last race in september -06 was finished, that some circumstances had to change in order for us to run our operation in a better way. The first thing we did was to start the building project, to concentrate our operation to one location instead of 3 (two in Linköping and one in Eskilstuna) and we are already pleased with the outcome of that. Even if we have not yet started to work in our new machine shop, we can see we made the right decision in building it.
 
We can now finally spread some more light of other changes as well.  Micke went to the US in november to check out some race cars. There has been numerous options on the table for review within the team since then. What it all lead up to is that we have decided to stick with the Bahco Express dragster, but with the difference we buy the car after having rented it for some seasons. The difference? We get 100% control of the car and parts supply, with both full responsability and full freedom. Micke comments on his choice of race car; "the cars I looked at in the US was fine working units, but the chassis had many runs on them. Now our chassis ( that was built by Mats Eriksson in 2005) is probably one of the freshest around and in the end that counts for something, both when it comes to value and safety matters". So what Micke, with help from his key mechanics is doing at the moment is to see that we update the car, in numerous ways, all to stand a chance as good as any of the other teams in the battle for the 2007 top fuel dragster championship title. Owning the car means we are in full control of what goes on it and also of the spare parts supply.


Photo: Gary Page (near left) is a veteran in nitro dragracing, both as a pilot and mechanic. Here pictured with Thomas and Robert (to the right)

The crew constellatiion 2007 will be pretty much the same as last season, with Alan Jackson and Göran Edman working side by side on the tuning. We are also happy that Gary Page and Terry Giles from the UK have expressed they are positive to contine working alongside our swedish crewmembers. They both form a valuable addition to our mechanics team with their long time experience in nitro dragracing.

All in all we are all pretty excited about the coming race season, which we have not yet decided 100% where and when to start. "With plenty of requests from our sponsors for road show activities this spring, we have to keep it an open matter for a while longer until the agenda is set for the months of april and may", says Micke.


january 26th: The vacation is now definately in the past and this week has been a busy one, just the way we like it!

A lot is going on, among other things we are currently looking on what activities we will be doing this year together with our sponsors. The first major appearance is coming up in the beginning of march at the Gothenburg Motorshow .

We have updated the agenda with some new information and most of Micke´s time the coming weeks is devoted to sponsor meetings and the completion of the building project. We hope to move in all equipment by the end of february.  


january 22nd: Micke is back in Sweden after two weeks vacation with friends. In his absence, the machine shop project has proceeded according to plan and we now have an actual building on our premises in Värna. Not finished enough to move all equipment to yet, but we are getting there..

As for the travel destination for Micke & co´s vacation? Take a look at what we find some beautiful and characteristic scenery. Can you guess what country the photo is from? Yes?


No? Would you like to know where the trip went and see more photos? Well..ok then, click here!


january 3rd: GENERAL UPDATES
We have updated the race calendar with the dates for 2007. Also added is a separate contact page incl a map of the location of our new work shop (see building status of today to the right).
We have moved all info dating earlier than september 2006 to the archive page.


january 2nd: HAPPY NEW 2007! First working day on the new year and the holidays are over for this time. Coming up shortly is however a two weeks vacation abroad, which we are looking forward to. When the trip was booked in May last year january seemed to be a good month for some time off racing. The last months have added up to our work load, but we hope to return with fresh minds and ready to take on the tasks we have on hand- exhibitions, preparations for the race season and the move of our operation to new facilities.


december 25th 2006: In Sweden we celebrated Christmas yesterday. As we lack snow completely, the christmas feeling was missing, but we did see Santa and we got a lot of christmas gifts. Christmas day is also a holiday in Sweden (as is Boxing day), but we have chosen to dedicate these days to working with our machine shop project, which we are eager to complete. In our favour is the lack of snow and very mild weather which keep Micke and his crew going day after day. The last part will however be completed by a contractor, starting mid-january.

What else? We have completed most sponsor agreements for 2007 and we are happy to say we will keep on working with 99% of our current sponsors and also add some new companies that fit well in together with the rest. A lot is going on behind the scene this time of year, both when it comes to the racing operation and the planning of exhibition activities for 2007. We hope to be able to bring some light on those issues as well before long..


 

Micke says Thank You all! Click to enlarge!

TEAM KÅGERED THANK SPONSORS IN BILSPORT MAGAZINE.. december 13th 2006: We have a tradition of placing an advertisment in the BILSPORT Magazine every year and this years "Thank You ad" was published just recently. We work with a number of fine companies on an allyear round basis. They all contribute to our many successful appearances this year (mostly off track) and make our work very pleasant both on and off the race track. Thanks for this season and we already look forward to some exciting activities currently in the pipeline for 2007!

Goods for our new machine shop unloaded by Kenta

december 12th 2006: Micke returned to Sweden today after a business trip abroad. The dragster was brought back safely to Linköping a couple of days ago after its trip to Bahrain. We are now getting ready for the big day this thursday, when the structure for our shop will be raised by the professionals at Lindab. In preparation, trucks have been delivering parts for the building to us the latest days and more is still to come. We enjoy the fact we are soon one step closer to moving our operation to the new building conveniently located on  Micke´s premises in Värna outside Linköping.






December 1st 2006: We are happy and proud
to include Hinz Försäljnings AB among our sponsors. HINZ, which is a family owned company, was founded in 1973 and is the agent and distributor for PALFINGER in Sweden- PALFINGER is a global market leader in cranes, lifting, loading and handling systems. Hinz head office is located in Borlänge Sweden. Team Kågered and Hinz will cooperate when it comes to both exposure and activities in 2007.
 





We had an exclusive tour in the engine room on board M/S Cinderella. Here Christer from System Edström Bilinredningar also drag racing speaker at Mantorp Park, took a closer look at a piston, ring and rod.. and we thought the dimensions of our racing engines were big?!
  
December 1st 2006: We are back after two days conference on board Viking Line´s ship M/S Cinderella. The passed season was discussed and also we looked ahead towards 2007, where we will continue to develop the exhibition concept and make some major changes to stand a better chance in the fight for the top fuel dragster championship title. More about that to follow later as some decisions are still pending.     
 
November 27th 2006: We got back from the BILSPORTMÄSSAN fair late last night and we are pleased with our weekend, where we met a lot of nice people in our stand! Below are some photos from the motorsport fair that team Kågered participated in together with our sponsors BAHCO  and AMALIE Motor Oil.
 
In the absence of the top fuel dragster (which is at sea on its way from Bahrain), we showed the funny car in our stand.


Micke flanked by Dan from AMALIE Motor Oil and team Kågered crew chief Göran Edman.


Team Kågered´s Kent Karlsson was in charge of the well appreciated tire change competition where fine prizes from BAHCO was at stake!


Our stand at the BILPSORTMÄSSAN fair had to be  spacious and big to fit all equipment we wanted to display!




Thumbs up from Micke Kågered as the concrete is poured in the mould
November 14th 2006: We have come one step further with our building project as the concrete was laid today. You may wonder why we make a big deal of it, but as the project has been developing we have really started to long for all advantages it will mean to move all our equipment to one place.  


.. Micke took a closer look at the concrete truck


..and already after 3 hours the concrete was in place
Well done guys!


NITRO POWER FOR ALL..
November 8th: Now available for mail order worldwide.. check out our popular NITRO t-shirts (right column this page!!)



October 31st: We have posted a photo gallery from the visit to Bahrain. Thank you Tog at www.eurodragster.com for letting us use some of your photos too! Check out the photos HERE!




Team Kågered was represented in Bahrain by from left: Emil, Thomas, Mika, Åsa and Micke- here posing with hospitality staff during the press meeting.    

October 30th: We are back in Sweden after a week long trip to Bahrain, a stay we enjoyed a lot both on and off the race track. We experienced a really friendly atmospehere and good cooperation between the organisers and everybody involved in the  top fuel circus. Micke found the track enjoyful to run at and real safe. By setting a new track record with 5.14 seconds, Micke is currently quickest in dragracing in Bahrain as well as the Gulf region. Had we continued the festival, laid down a few more sessions on the track the chances are good we would have run in the 4.90´s, says Micke and continues- now the organisers at the Bahrain International Circuit has placed Bahrain on the dragracing map once and for all- the track is not yet faster than the best track in Europe, which is only natural as it is still a young track. It clearly has a lot of potential and I would love to come back on another occasion to continue the work we started this passed weekend.



October 22nd:  Bahrain is on the agenda october 23rd-29th for part of the team. Micke fly to Bahrain together with mechanics Mika, Thomas, Emil and coordinator Åsa. Alan Jackson is also present and will be tuning the Bahco Express top fuel dragster as usual. 8 top fuel drivers from five nations take part in the show, held at the Bahrain International Circuit. A gigantic project where all cars, spare parts and tools have been shipped from Europe.

We will not be updating the website while in Bahrain, but updates from the track are available on Europe´s no#1 dragracing news forum Eurodragster . Tog from Eurodragster joins the crews in Bahrain exclusively to make sure you can follow the action from the track, including results, pictures, interviews and more. The top fuel dragster show is on thursday and friday night october 26-27th.
 


Micke Kågered was in Bahrain in march this year as one of two drivers to make appearances in connection with the F-1 race. Micke says the arena is just fantastic and the organisation first class. His hopes are all teams will be able to put on a good show and that everything will work out smooth with the "in between runs maintenance". All crews are limited to half the number of mechanics we normally have on a race, but as we are really one big family at this event everybody will work together in order to make the cars perform as best as the track condition allows. The heat is tremendous during daytime and the show is scheduled to be run at night. 

We will be back with a personal report on our return to Sweden.




Photo: Stefan Boman/Bilsport Magazine

Pictured: The car deck onboard the M/S Cinderella where team Kågered held the initial presentation.

October 20th: Just a brief note and a photo from one of the more odd acitivities this year, held oct 12-13th. Odd in the sense it took place on a ship and a temporary showroom had been prepared by VIKING LINE at car deck. The activity was organised by the Swedish Transport Group and team Kågered togehter with BAHCO and 3M was invited as special guests.  


October 16th: General Update- this time of year a lot is going on behind the scene.. Plans are made, agreements are reached etc. A lot still remain unofficial and maybe it seems not much is going on if you visit our website now and then.. but believe us, plenty is going on!


BILSPORT MAGAZINE-latest issue #21

MICKE- A WRITER? One of Micke´s tasks is to write a column in the scandinavian BILSPORT magazine on a regular basis and a couple of days ago, a new issue was published. If you want to read what Micke had to say, some of his "after season thoughts" and what is ahead, we have also placed the content of the article in both swedish and english.    
 

October 3rd: Team Kågered´s business partner Gatorz Europe have just launched a new website, featuring most models of their one of a kind aluminium framed sunglasses at www.gatorzeurope.com Micke is also presented on Gatorz website, click this link to check it out!
 
TEAM KÅGERED- the MOST FIT CREW in 2007?

Pictured: crew chief Göran Edman together with mechanics Max(center) and Edvin (far back). Micke supervises the excersise session.

October 2nd: The passed weekend we had all the swedish crew on visit in Linköping. Micke started this team activity by bringing his mechanics to WorldClass gym where he normally excersise 3 times a week. After that, some jacuzzi and a party that included a live rock band. We had a great time!

 
Part of the crew gathered on the site where Micke has just started the work that willl become a new work shop. Pictured from the left: Peter, Thomas, Mia, Kenta, Mika, Micke and Emil.


WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY UP TO?

It takes many different talents to be an entrepreneur..

September 22: Micke and truck driver Kenta just got back from a road show last night and today, friday they have a completely different task on their agenda. We have just recently decided to concentrate our operation to Linköping and we lack indoor space.. So what to do? Micke has been wishing to build a workshop by his house for a long time. He already has the land and now the time seems right. Pictured above is part of the site where the building will be raised. Micke and Kenta are taking turns drilling in preparation for the explosive work that is scheduled this weekend. Next step for Micke is to decide on which brand of building to go for and that is happening within a few days too. 




An eye catcher on the road? The Scania truck and double deck trailer
September 21: Micke and Kenta have been in Karlstad and Örebro, Sweden together with Bahco on a mini road show tuesday and wednesday. Thursday they were with our sponsor System Edström Bilinredningar in Stockholm. The funny car, chopper and transporters that were on display as the dragster has been shipped to Bahrain. 




Truck driver Kenta has become an expert on loading -above; dragster and more to be shipped to Bahrain

September 13th: The dragster, tools and spare parts were loaded in a container yesterday and will be sent out of Sweden within a few days. The destination is Bahrain where Micke is one of eight top fuel drivers to participate in a show race late october. In the absence of the dragster, we perform the upcoming road show activities with the methanol funny car.

We have placed the final FIA European championship points standings here . Micke Kågered ended 6th in the top fuel dragster category. It is the first time since his start in methanol funny car 1989 that Micke is outside "top 3"


COMPLETED; THE FIA EUROPEAN FINALS

Micke at the Santa Pod track earlier this season

September 10th 2006: The European Finals at Santa Pod was completed late sunday afternoon and the results have been posted. Team Kågered was taken out in the quarter finals, the two gigants of the event in top fuel dragster were Urs Erbacher and Håkan Nilsson. Nilsson is also the new european champion. Our sincere congratulations to Håkan, Per, Karsten and the rest of the crew. You have really set a standard this season, a standard that anyone who wants to be a winner next season must match. There are already some teams that are capable of running in the 4,70- 4,80´s and that is what it will take to be competitive in top fuel dragster. 

For Micke Kågered and the crew it is just to try and put this season behind us and move on, regroup and make plans for the race season 2007..
 
But, first awaits the show race in Bahrain and the dragster is being shipped out from Sweden as soon as it returns from the UK.

WHEN IT ALL BEGAN..

No doubt the interest for race cars have been there for Micke since a young age. We recently found the proof of it in an old newspaper, featuring an article about a rally- Micke´s first.. He was aged six then and the car had been designed by Mickes father. Maybe it is no wonder after all, Micke later came to turn his longtime hobby into a full time career!


A MISSILE WAITING FOR LAUNCH..


September 2006: A rare angle for a photo. The Bahco Express top fuel dragster with Micke Kågered in the cockpit waits at the starting area at Santa Pod Raceway to get access to the track, while the track crew make final track preparations. Photographer Remco Scheelings took this opportunity to take some "rare angled" photos and this is one.. from the European Finals sept-06.




 A SNAKE´s NEST??
September 2006: This is what it looks like under the panel, just in front of the cockpit on the dragster. Looking at the picture we find it pretty amazing really that there are rarely failures connected to the lines,cables and hoses you see above. You wonder what they all are for? Maybe we can explain that another day..  
Photo by crew member Kenta



"We have tons of photos.."- This one shot by Ivan Sansom. Spectacular?   

August 24th 2006: We have updated the photo bank with all new, fresh photos. We have literally tons of photos, but never seem to find the time to publish many of them.. but at least this is a start.. and we also updated some photos on our team page.




Micke and Kalle discuss a new design for next season?
 
August 21 2006: Part of the team were on an exhibition the past weekend together with 3M and Nilfisk ALTO The location was Clas Ohlsson´s head office in Insjön SWEDEN (close to everybody in Sweden know what Clas Ohlsson is). Pictured above is Micke together with best friend Kalle, who joined the Kågered crew this weekend. 3M arranged a drawing contest for the children and Micke got plenty of inspiration and new ideas from looking at the numerous drawings of the dragster!
Products from 3M and Nilfisk ALTO were on display as were of course the Bahco Express top fuel dragster..

 
Team Kågered, 3M and Nilfisk ALTO participated in Insjödagarna at Clas Ohlsson´s..



FIA EVENT IN NORWAY COMPLETED
August 7th 2006: The eliminations in the FIA European Championship event at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway was completed sunday.

Micke Kågered had two good days of qualifying, however was taken out in the quarter finals after an engine failure. "We kicked a rod half track with massive damage to the engine as a result", said Micke and continues. "Things just don´t go our way at the moment, we did everything right this time as we did at Mantorp, but it doesn´t take us very far in the competitions which is of course frustrating". 

Complete  results  in top fuel dragster together with our commentsafter have been posted.


Mechanic Edvin prepares a set of new tires - team Kågered´s pit space at Gardermoen in the background



FIA EVENT AT MANTORP PARK COMPLETED
GREAT PERFORMANCE BY MICKE AT MANTORP DID NOT DO THE JOB..

Photo by Remco Scheelings

July 31th 2006: Micke Kågered had a great weekend at Mantorp Park, Sweden up until the point where he ran a 4.91 in the quarter finals and was outrun by Håkan Nilsson. "A shame it had to be already in the quarter finals I met Håkan", said Micke. "That great side by side run would have made a perfect final". Håkan Nilsson qualified number 8 but got control of the traction problems just in time for the eliminations.
Team Kågered for the first time this year had a car that worked brilliantly. Qualified as number one with a 4.94 second run and improved it in the quarter finals by running a 4.91 run against Nilssons 4.86. The side by side race between the two of them were the quickest in top fuel in Europe this season. 

"With all great people backing me up at my home track I am of course disappointed we did not make it all the way to the final, but I can´t really say we could have done something in a different way to change the scenario", says Micke and continues "we now finally have a car that runs well and react to changes in the way we want, so now I really look forward to next weekends race in Norway!"


Micke on track put on a good show while it lasted at Mantorp. Photo by Remco Scheelings

Micke made it into the elimination field in methanol funny car too, but was outrun by event winner Jörgen Johnsson in the quarter finals. Micke thought it was great fun to pilot the funny car again for the first time in three years. Niclas Andersson, who piloted the car for Micke last season, followed all Micke´s races with the funny car closely and said it felt kind of strange not to be in the car. Niclas pilots a ProMod car this season, but was also taken out in the quarter finals at Mantorp.


Crew Chief Göran Edman watch Micke´s run in the funny car closely. Photo by Remco Scheelings

We would like to thank all guests invited by BAHCO, 3M, AMALIE Motor Oil, Mitutoyo, System Edström, Migatronic and TT-line for spending a day at the race track with us. We enjoyed having you all there!

With the good help of a massive crowd of friends, we managed to load our two trailers and all equipment already sunday night at Mantorp and are now back to our base in Linköping to reorganise everything for next race. The top fuel transporters head towards Gardermoen Raceway in Norway on tuesday night, with the crew following a day later.


PERSONAL NEWS FOR ALL CAT LOVERS..

We are proud to announce that two kittens were born into the Kågered family on "Mantorp Park race day" july 30th. The red male kitten goes by the name of NITRO, while the female white/black kitten is to be called METTIS (short for methanol in swedish). The adorable kittens both will be given what we hope new, caring homes by october, but meanwhile we all enjoy having them around!

PS- they did get two good homes with loving families and are much appreciated in their new surrounding..


MICKE´s WELL KEPT SECRET NOW PUBLIC.. "BRINGS TWO RACE CARS TO MANTORP"..


Micke to pilot the methanol funny car at Mantorp!

July 14th 2006:  We can now confirm that Micke Kågered plans to "double" at Mantorp by entering both the top fuel dragster and methanol funny car categories! Read his thoughts and comments on the issue below;

"We have had the funny car loaded in its trailer since more than a month. Initially it was prepared to be delivered in mid-june to a "new home" 
, but the deal with a potential buyer have taken longer than expected to sort out.. so the car is still mine and one day I walked past the funny car trailer and the thought struck me that I could actually run it if I wanted.. It would not be to much of a job too begin with as it is pretty much set up to race anyway.. So I called around and asked my mechanics how they would feel if we brought two cars to Mantorp..

As a result, I have entered the event at Mantop Park in both methanol funny car and top fuel dragster. Top fuel is my main priority this season and for the time being I have no intentions of making more appearances with the funny car than at Mantorp. 


Micke looks forward to pilot his funny car again..  

It has been three years since I last piloted a methanol funny car and I actually feel rather excited about it.. maybe to some extent also because it was not planned that