For Steven Ham and the Mobil 1/East Coast Lubes Funny Car, the 2011 Nitro Champs proved a vital round for the teams championship aspirations. The fickle Sydney weather threw all the teams a curve ball with two days of relentless rain before clearing up just enough for two qualifying runs but giving tricky track conditions.
The Mobil 1 team was setup with a soft tune for both of the qualifying sessions, though a soft tune in a Top Alcohol funny car still requires the driver to manhandle the car down the track. Steve did the best he could on the first run when the car started getting loose, before smoking the tyres and crossing the centreline; though still resulting in a 5.91 ET. In the second qualifier the car had to sit at stage rpm much longer than desired resulting in the car instantly smoking the tyres before breaking the gearbox. This left the team in the precarious 8th qualifying position for race day with a damaged car.
The team put a huge effort in too get the car ready for the critical first round matchup against Championship leader Wayne Newby. With the car turned around and ready to go, only disappointment could be felt when Steve just red-lit with a -0.005 reaction time and a 5.75 ET against Wayne Newby’s 0.065 reaction time and 5.72 ET.
While the Nitro Champs proved to be full of challenges the team will learn from the meet and focus on the Winternationals. Steve and the team will be more than ready to get the Mobil 1/East Coast Lubes Funny Car back to its winning ways, with this being the last chance for the 2010/2011 season.
