The Australian Nationals “Warm Up” test and tune had the heat switch set to maximum as the sun baked Sydney Dragway, a number of teams attempted some valuable data gathering ahead of for what is for most classes the ANDRA Championship season opener.
With the heat and altitude well over 3000ft there were no outstanding performances recorded, though Brett Gillespie’s 6.14|226 from the Mustang was the attention getter of the day, showing the old Mustang still has something left in her. John Cannuli was the next quickest in the Camaro with new Biglift Cranes livery clocking a 6.18, followed by Grant O’ Rourke’s 6.34. Most of the other doorslammers struggled with viscious tyre shake or smoke.
Likewise in the Pro Stock class, a number of racers took shots at it with Wayne Daley best by a bunch running a 7.14|192, followed by a 7.23 from Perdikaris, Grima 7.25, Tucker 7.29 and the rest 7.3’s or slower.
Gary Phillips has a upgraded to all new gear on board and took a couple of shots at the track ending in shake, Phil Parker also had a pass on his Top Bike but dropped a bunch of cylinders off the line.
Several Group 2 teams also took the chance for some laps, Darren Parker went 7.54 in his B/APA GXP, Jim Ioannidis could not get the B/MSA Commodore to hook up. Mike Nola pushed the nitrous AA/AP Pontiac to a low seven now with a 3 stage nitrous kit, a oil leak on a second attempt proved a blessing when a brand new lithium battery had a internal meltdown and caught fire while being pushed back.
The forecast for the weekend is much more forgiving with conditions that should provide record setting possibilities.
Check out the event gallery below.
If you want more information from the test and tune please post on our forum in the following thread.
http://dragnews.com.au/index.php/features-mainmenu-47/default-topic/797-nationals
