December 15! Blackout SS won the local Blackstage autocrossing on the icy and snowy parking lot with a 2 second
margin to second car - a Nissan 200SX. Examples of other cars were Audi TT 4WD, Saab 9000T, VW Polo and
even a russian Lada 2104!
Some people complained loudly and suggested that it was something wrong with the timing after my first run since I
was so quick! :-) And maybe there was an error - because it just went quicker and quicker all afternoon...


Much driving much fun! The reason some get surprised about the excellent handling of an Impala SS is because they
think it is TOO BIG and most don't know what is done to it. From factory it had the same skidpad and handling
performance as the Volvo and SAAB Turbo's from the same year! Even though the Impala SS weight is 4400 lbs -
2000 kg! I have taken the performance even further with stiffer springs - Eibach and ST - which also lower the
body 2 inches. Hotchkis swaybars, BMR rear control arms with polyrethane bushings, Hal's adjustable shock
absorbers, Bridgestone Potenza 285 ZR40-17 tires and more. It is like a big gocart and is more fit for
autocrossing than most cars I've seen. And roomy and comfortable too =)
This was the very last race with the stock motor "Moses".


Well I wanted to do one more thing...



Iceracing on a frozen lake! Hålandasjön - January 12 2003. Prepared with the spiked winterwheels from
Tommy's Cadillac and a couple of cement bags in the trunk I would show them youngsters that I'm a
real hardcore iceracer from the North! When I was a youngster myself in Umeå, we raced a lot on the
frozen lakes every winter. But now I don't ride a VW 1200 from 1962 - but an Impala SS! Muahahaa!


No problem to enter the lake, but I noticed that some cars had BIG problems to exit! Even 4WD's! It had begun to get warm
and the melting made the tracks slippery like...wet ice! Mårten's Caprice just slid sideways from the tracks into the
bushes and a local farmer had to get his tractor to help. Mårten is waving and shouting "No photos please!"

So we became more interested in making a fire to bar-b-que some hot dogs instead of parking the SS in the bushes.
But the fire was like the whole season of 2002 - it didn't lit at all!. But we got some hot coffee. Axel thought it was OK,
he had had his excitement some days ago anyway - when he went downhill on his sled and collided into a stupid tree...

Another reason of not entering the lake was the water. To get a fun day at a lake you'll need a very
frosty ice so you can get some traction and speed. You don't get that in a couple of inches of water.

Before the stupid tree. This picture is actually taken a full year before the stupid tree.



More exciting cone racing on dry asphalt with our
too heavy and too big 4-door Impala SS here!