The MacLean Motorsports Holden Monaro has made one of the runs of the year in the Australian drag racing scene with a phenomenal 5.572 during the 2018 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals Warm Up at Willowbank Raceway.
With nearly perfect air and track conditions at their disposal, driver Scott MacLean, crew chief Darren Mayer and the elite MacLean Motorsports team took full advantage, clocking the quickest unofficial Pro Slammer time in the country (formerly held by Paul Mouhayet at 5.585 seconds).
“It’s any drag racer’s dream to be the quickest in their class so this feels pretty good,” MacLean said. “How long it lasts is another story! To take out times to the next level is what every one of us aspires to do and the whole team and crew were pumped.”
Having spent six months out of the driver’s seat of the 3000 horsepower Holden Monaro, MacLean used his first couple of runs to get back into the groove.
“We were all a bit rusty so the first thing with this weekend was to make sure we all knew what went where and getting used to going racing again,” MacLean explained. “The first run I got a bit sideways in the burnout which unsettled me a bit and I aborted the run when it rattled.
“We had new parachutes with a different release angle and trajectory and we really wanted to try those out. The second run we pushed a head gasket out at 900 feet as the result of a broken head stud.”
The team took their time going over the engine to make sure everything was healthy before sending MacLean out for one last pass.
“The 5.572 was the mother of all rides (check out the video at the bottom of this article),” he said. “It picked up the front wheels and held them up, we had smooth shift lights and I actually pulled the chutes early which is why the speed was slightly down.”
The only negative part of the run came in the braking area, where an excited MacLean performed what was described as the ‘Oh, What a Feeling’ jump from Australian Toyota advertisements, landing awkwardly and damaging his achilles ligament.
“I finished with a trip to hospital and half a leg cast,” he said. “So we didn’t end up doing a second day of testing but one way or another I will be driving that car at the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals.”
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Crew chief Darren Mayer’s confidence in the car was restored following repairs to the four link suspension made after Sydney Dragway’s Summer Thunder event in January.
“I have been focused on getting the car to short time (record quick numbers to the 60 foot incremental timer) where we were,” he said.
“I was wondering if we had damaged the car beyond where we cold bring it back, but once I got my hands on it during the second run of testing on Saturday I knew we had it.”
MacLean’s Monaro recorded one of the quickest 60 foot times of any Pro Slammer in Australia with a sensational 0.924 second launch.
“I didn’t expect the launch to be that quick,” Mayer said. “The conditions were phenomenal, both air and track. This car has proven to be a good car.”
“The best part of my day was Paul Mouhayet from Moits Racing coming over and showing genuine excitement for us. When he does good we are very happy for them. He came over and he was so happy for us, yelling and jumping up and down. It was great, the camaraderie is what I enjoy. We all work very hard at this, so when a return is realised we all know the effort it took. When Paul wins the championship, and he will, I will be the first one celebrating for him.”
With a spare day at the track to prepare the car for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals from June 7 to 10, the MacLean Motorsport team are now fully prepared to take on Australia’s biggest drag racing event.
Check out the video below.
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