Last weekend provided valuable last-minute track time for racers looking to fine-tune their combinations ahead of this weekend’s National Drag Racing Championship East Coast Nationals at Sydney Dragway.
With Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and Pro Mod joined by the Aeroflow Sportsman Series, all chasing valuable championship points as the season rapidly approaches its conclusion, there is plenty on the line at the East Coast Nationals.
Attention will be on no other bracket more than Top Doorslammer. In an absolutely heroic rise from the ashes, Jeremy Callaghan and Moits Motorcars have once again done the seemingly impossible, rebuilding the Luci Civil Camaro and returning it to the track for a second consecutive season after a horrendous crash.
Callaghan made a few shake down runs and will be looking to crack into the 5.50s with the bracket’s big guns.
The Camaro looks absolutely stunning, setting the stage for another remarkable comeback story, can he repeat with a win replicating last season.
If the bracket didn’t already have enough spice, enter John Ricca and the Race Parts Melbourne Camaro.
After conquering Pro Mod, Ricca has turned his attention to Top Doorslammer, requiring a complete change of direction for the world’s quickest screw-blown doorslammer. The EFI has been removed, with class-legal mechanical injection now feeding a D-Rotor PSI blower, replacing the previous C-Rotor, and running less overdrive. The Camaro has also been brought up to the required class weight
Another major change in the wheelman. Ricca’s commitments to rebuilding Victorian Motorsport Park has seen him vacate the seat initially for former two-time doorslammer champion Paul Mouhayet, however upon strapping in found the set up a little too confined for his taller frame so enter Craig Burns who tested and will steer the car at the East Coast Nats.
BOOM! After Burns familiarised himself with the Camaro during the test and tune and the team worked through the process of developing an entirely new set-up, they continued private testing the following day — and fired a shot that rocked the Top Doorslammer bracket.
On the Camaro’s first full pass to the stripe, Burns blasted to a stunning 5.58 at 253 mph, immediately putting the rest of the field on notice.
Brody Davies continued his impressive rise in the category with strong and consistent 5.80s.
Winternationals winner and new Top Doorslammer speed record holder Emilio Spinozzi punched out some strong early numbers in the heat.
The A-Civil team also cut some laps in their Mustang.
West Aussie Fast Cats are back for this event. Testing did end with a literal bang for Shane Catalano when a burnt plug backfired the blower and the burst panel knocked out the windscreen. All has been fixed and the team are all ready for the weekend.
Nitro testing was the sole domain of the Lamattina Top Fuel Racing team as they eye the championship this season. Main objective of testing was to blow the cobwebs out and get the team dialled in before the event. Lamattina made two hits, the second yielding a head gasket burning 4.03 shut off.
With temperature into the low 30s it wasn’t ideal for the aspirated Pro Stock brigade.
Gina Bullians now licensed in the Bomber Racing Camaro will make her competition debut at the East Coast Nationals. She dropped a couple of low 7.1s
“Yesterday yielded us 3 solid hits, some good 60 foots and sorted out a few small issues to boot,” said Gina. “Much needed seat time for me, and a great run through for the whole crew, being 3-months since our last visit to the track with waiting for the weather to get warmer.”
Clint George made the best Pro Stock run in testing with a 7.09.
Eddy Hawach will make his NDRC Pro Mod debut with his twin-turbo Mustang. The more-regularly known Sport Compact racer was set to debut ex-Moits Mustang this time last year, but an accident in testing for the Nitro Nationals then has seen a year long rebuild take place.
Rob Campisi and Craig Hewitt were also out in the heat making a few test hits.
Aeroflow Sportsman Series will also be pumping out the action this weekend as they chase a prized NDRC Gold Christmas Tree.
