Valuable points collected at Kemora | 16/08/2011 Third race weekend at Kemora was driven partly under wet circumstances. Saturdays Qualifying and 1st Race were driven under rainy clouds. In the qualifying Markus Ollila kept the fastest pace with his Mtec and managed to conquer the pole position. After some difficulties with tyre pressures Miikka Mäkelä managed to get good enough lap times to start from 3rd position. Milla Mäkelä took 9th place in the qualifying. In the first start Miikka went straight to the top but didn't manage to hold the position formtoo long and fierce batle for positions began between top 4 drivers. In the end Miikka Finished 3rd and Milla 9th. The saturdays warm up was driven in half dry weather, but weather got a little bit brighter before the races. In the 2nd start Miikka was left 4th and started to climb up positions. Other competitors puncture slowed down the chase and Miikka didn't quite manage to catch the leading car before chequered flag. He finished 2nd with the fastest lap time of the race. Milla had to dodge a fellow competitor on the first lap and it caused a gap in front of her. During the race Milla was catching them but it wasn't quite enough. She finished 8th. Sundays second, weekends third race was the most exciting one. The weather was a lot warmer than before and the sun was shining. Positions were switched several times during the tight race between top 4 drivers. After a very thrilling race Miikka finished 2nd. Milla got a good start from the line and was fighting for 6th position but her brakes were nearly worn out on the last few lap. Still she managed to finish 7th. After a season with very bad luck the three podium positions were needed and shot Miikka straight to the 4th place in the Finnish Championship points. There is still a possibility to gain podium or even win the Championship! Looking forward to Ahvenisto Finals.. Disappointments and celebration in Ahvenisto | 19/06/2011 The second race weekend of the Finnish Championship Series was driven on 11th and 12th June in Ahvenisto. Mäkelä Racing got a new driver, Nanci Ristla from Estonia, to drive her first race in Formula Ford this weekend. She became the first Estonian woman to compete with formula cars. In the qualifying Miikka Mäkelä took second place to both starts of the weekend. Markus Ollilla with his Mtec took places 4 and 5. Nanci did well in her first qualifying and took places 9 and 8. Milla Mäkelä's brakebalance was stuck and she locked her wheels in almost every corner. Her start places were 11th and 9th. In the first race Miikka felt that something was wrong with his car when he went up the "paddockhill" and after the hill he drifted in to the wall and he couldn't finish the race. Nanci also spinned in her first race and did not finish. Milla had problems with oiltemperatures and she had to cool down almost half of the race. Her position was 8th. Markus Ollilla finished 3rd. Milla could not start to the second race on Sunday, because she drove in to a wall in the warm up session when the throttle got stuck. The team didn't have enough time to fix the car. Markus also had to stop the race in the first lap when he got into a crash. Nanci had a technical problem and had to come to the pits in the middle of the race. Her position was 8th. Miikka had a though fight for the second place during the whole race but in the last lap he was left to the third place. All's well that ends well | 2/06/2011 The first race weekend of finnish championship in Alastaro was very colourful. Miikka was with the teams selfmade Mtec, the fastest Formula Ford of the weekend, but he made it to the finish line only once, as a winner. Problems from the practice days had an effect to Millas driving. Millas oil pump broke during training and that cost her a lot of necessary fast laps. In the qualifying Miikka had a few good laps until on the pit stop crew noticed that one tyre was leaking air and they decided not to drive anymore. Laps were enough to bring Miikka two pole positions and one second place start to the finals. In the first final Miikka had a collision with other competitor in the first corner and they both dropped out from the race. Markus Ollilla Finished second in that race with a Mtec. In the second race Miikka was chasing down the leading car on second place, but the rear tyres overheated during furious fights in the beginning of the race and were not that reliable anymore and Miikka spun out from second place at the end of the main straight, but before that managed to do the fastest lap time of the whole weekend. Ollila finished second again. In the third race everything clicked together. After a lot of overtaking and despite the pressure from the other competitors Miikka managed to finish first cross the finishline. Ollila finished his great weekend with third place and took the lead in the Finnish championship. Milla was fighting over for fith place many times, but didn't quite manage to finish in the top five. Milla was 7th, 6th and 9th in the finales. Next round will be driven at Ahvenisto. The speed of Mtec cars have been proved to be very fast. After Mäkelä Racing manages to break loose from the bad luck we can definitely wait for more good results. Season 2010 finished | 10/12/2010 Season 2010 had lots of ups and downs for our team. Speed was good, but we had some bad luck in every race. After all the set backs we are very happy to have Miikka in the third place in Finnish championship series. After the race in Pärnu we built a new Mtec car to Miikka. In its first race it had a small clutch problem, but since we got that under control the car was very fast and reliable. Problems in Pärnu was not caused by broken chassis as we first tought. The reason was one rear tyre that had a different rubbercompaund than they usually do. It made driving impossible. Now we are preparing for the new raceseason and hoping that it comes with better luck. We have planned to drive Finnish championship series and Eurocup with a team of 3 to 4 cars. Drivers will be atleast Miikka and Milla. New season 2011 starts with VM motorsport show in Helsinki from 8th to 9th January 2011. Welcome to see us and our stand there. Hard times in Pärnu | 22/07/2010 One race of Finnish championship serie is driven in Pärnu, Estonia. The track is very bumpu which caused a lot of harm to Mäkelä Racing Team. Miikka drove into a pile of tyres once in practise and in the same place he went out of the track again, only this time he managed to dirve into a ditch instead of the tyrewall. These happened when a bolt form his front lower wishbones attachment broke. The mounting had had damages earlier and the repairment had held this far. All this led to the chassis to brake. Miikka was the fastest on Wednesday, then he hit the tyrewall, and he went to the ditch and then the laptimes started to get worse and worse. In the second start he was over four seconds behind his best laptimes. Results were sixth and seventh. Milla found trust to her car again, when all the setups were changed after Alastaro. She had some problems with traffic in qualifying and first race. In second race she spinned, but after that she caught the others and got pass them. Even Miikka was really close, but one lap was missing. Results 8th and 8th. To the next race in Botniaring we will build a new car for Miikka. It will be the first Finnish one. Image gallery Miikka two times second in Alastaro | 22/07/2010 The second race of the season was driven in Alastaro on 11th and 12th June. The first race was driven on wet track and Mäkelä Racing hasn't had the opportunity to test the new Dunlop wet tyres. Miikka was third in qualifying and he missed the first start. He dropped to last place, but after only one lap he was back in his own place. Milla had some technical problems and she spinned several times. In the end Miikka was second and Milla was 9th. The second race was dry and Miikka was second again, with no bigger problems. Milla didn't get the car to work the way she had wanted and ended up in 9th place again. Image gallery Car was good, but race was bad | 16/05/2010 Season 2010 started in Kemora on 14th-15th May. The race was bit disapointment if you look at the results, but overall we can be quite satisfyed. Mtec was proven to be fast when Miikka Mäkelä took the poleposition in qualifying and broke old laprecord for Formula Ford in the first race. Miikka was forced out of the track during a tough fight for 2nd place and dropped a few positions. At the finish line he was 6th. Milla Mäkelä had problems with understeering during test days. The solution was simple when we discovered it on the last night before the race. The car changed completely and there was only one session before qualifying to get used to it. In the qulifying rain and trafic affected quite a lot. Result was 7th. Milla spinned during the race, and ended up finishing 8th. On Saturday in the second race Miikka was hit by a cocompetitor and he couldn't finish the race. Milla had a problem with the clutch and had to start from the pitlane. Forunately safetycar came in and she caught the others. The down side was that the safety car was on track almost the whole time. In the end there was only one lap time to get past the others. After all timepenalities etc Milla was 6th. Image gallery Pictures from Mtec factory | 18/04/2010 Picture gallery from Mtec Formula Ford Factory Wallius supports Mtec and Mäkelä Racing team | 23/01/2010 Finnish weldingmachine-manufacturer, Wallius, has 60 years experience from welding and weldingmachines. Wallius provides the latest weldingmachines, their wide knowledge of welding and Magmawelds welding materials for Mäkelä Racing teams use. Wallius has tested in their own laboratory what is the best way to weld 4130 steel with TIG and they will deliver this information to Mäkelä Racing team. The contract between Wallius and Mäkelä Racing team was signed and published on January 16th in VM Motorsportshow in Helsinki, where Mäkelä Racing Team was introducing their first chassis which is made completely in Finland. Wallius was also presenting a wide range of their weldingmachines on Mäkelä Racings stand. Mäkelä Racing has also started a new project with Oulu university. The project is about welding CrMo (4130) tubes. The university will test the strenght of the weldings and do some microscopical research about the chance of the material during the welding.Through this information Mäkelä Racing Team can be sure of the top quality of their products. www.wallius.com www.magmaweld.com Triple win for Mtec in Falkenberg! | 2009 Miikka borrwed his littlesisters Mtec for the two remaining NEZ races so there were three Mtecs In Falkenberg; Miikka Mäkelä, Miika Hirsimäki and Antti Buri. Hirsimäki was the fastest in the qulifying and took the pole position, but unfortunately he crashed his car in the end of the qualifying session so he was out from the first race. At the first race Antti Buri won and Miikka Mäkelä was second. In the second race Mtec took a triple win when Antti Buri won, Miikka Mäkelä in the second place and Miika Hirsimäki on the third. In the last race of the NEZ series in Padborg Denmark Antti Buri was having a tough fight with Danish drivers but he managed to keep his lead on the NEZ serie. Miikka Mäkelä wasn't in good shape, because he had a terrible flu and high fever. Still he managed to get third place on the NEZ serie. Hirsimäki didn't participate in Denmark, because the earlier accidents dropped him out of the top places in the NEZ points. Finnish Championship second round in Alastaro | 16/06/2009 Alastaro NEZ race had 3 Mtec FD09 cars. Antti Buri and Miika Hirsimäki were two fastest cars on the track during the practise. In qualifying Buri was the fastest. Hirsimäki had a problem with throttle cable. He managed to drive only two laps and was 6th. Before the race problems were solved. In the first race Buri took an easy win. Hirsimäki had a bad start and lost few positions. But after 3 laps he managed to get to the 3rd place, but then one car behind him hit to his lower rear wishbone and bent it. He still managed to keep the 3rd place all the way across the finishline. So Mtec took 1st and 3rd places and Milla Mäkelä in her 3rd race ever was 8th. At second race Buri was the only one with slick tyres on half wet track and spinned once. He still managed to take the 2nd place. Hirsimäki had very bad luck with rear antirollbar pushrod which was taken off because of the weather and jumped to the wrong place. It made driving allmost impossible. He had to make a pit stop which dropped him to the last place but before the end he passed couple cars and was 7th. Miikka Mäkelä with his old zetec car finished 3rd on sundays race. It was a good result when you notice that there were many problems with the car. During the weekend Miikka had to fix pedal-box gearleveler, radiator, catalysator, rear wheelbearing and the floor plate. So there wasn't much time to practise. After the weekend Miikka is 3rd in the finish championship points. And Milla is 2nd in years rookie points, but because she is driving a duratec car she doesn't get any finish championship points. Antti Buri is leading the NEZ serie and Miikka and Miika share the third place and Milla is 9th. NEZ serie continues in Falkenberg, Sweden on 11th and 12th of July. Image gallery Mtec on track for the first time in Finland | 27/04/2009 Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of April Milla Mäkelä drove two days test in Alastaro. Milla was very happy with the new car. It feels bit more sensitive than her old Van Diemen. There appeared no technical problems during the test period. These first tests were driven only to get used to the new car. In next test session we will try to find suitable set ups to finnish tracks. Miikka had also a chance to test the car for few laps. Miikka was fast from the start. After 7 laps he drove time 1.20.01, which is only about 2 seconds slower than last summers best qualifying times in Alastaro. Miikka told that the gears weren't the best ones, because we used the same gears that we have been using with Zetec. Next test will be driven in Botniaring before a national race on 8.-9. of May. That race will give a good practise before the first race of Finnish championship that starts one week later in Ahvenisto. Image gallery Development of environmental friendly Motorsport | 04/03/2009 The Formula Ford bioethanol project was carried out as a co-operation with Mäkelä Racing Team and Oulu University of Applied Sciences. Finnish foundation of Henry Ford and Formula Ford Finland were the major supporters for the project. Project info in pdf-format Image gallery Mäkela Racing new Mtec out in shows | 09/02/2009 Millas next years Formula Ford Mtec was first time out in "Legends on ice" race show area in Oulu (see photos). Later the car was out in Biofuel press conference in Oulu (see photos). |
|
|||||||||
