Russell Ladbrook has shifted his racing to a higher speed with the move into Supercharged Outlaws this season with a new Funny Car.
Northam’s Ladbrook is no stranger to high performance cars and motors, having raced himself and also building the engine for James Palmer’s Ford Cobra which raced in the category.
Ladbrook himself decided it was the way he wanted to go and though he originally had plans for a sedan he eventually went straight into the Funny Car.
The car was purchased from Mark Thomas in Canada.
Ladbrook also purchased a motor from the USA but said he was unfortunately sold one that did not meet the description. However he has since sourced a Keith Black locally which has been teamed up with a Littlefield supercharger to produce some big horsepower figures.
Ladbrook had the opportunity to drive the car for the first time several weeks ago in a private test day at Perth Motorplex.
He said that was the moment that all the expense made sense.
“All that money had just gone out of the window but it was 110% worth it,” he said.
“I’ve had this notion in my head that if it it scares me I would sell it, but the car goes dead straight.”
Ladbrook stuck to launches in the licensing procedure, with all going fairly to plan besides pulling the wrong levers and accidentally shutting off the fuel on one pass.
The engine has been developed with enough potential to eventually run some low 6sec. passes. Ladbrook has been getting advice from long time drag racer Grant O’Rourke, who performed a lot of work on the car, and Stuart Rowland, crew chief on Robin Judd’s Top Doorslammer, as he comes to grips.
“We’re going to run at another private test day and hopefully we can do a half track or full pass then,” he said.
“It is a totally different car and style to drive, so different to a normal sedan.”
