Josh Leahy comes into the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars extravaganza at Perth Motorplex in career best form following his first ever win in the series in Queensland recently.
Leahy drove ‘The Bandit’ Funny Car to victory in front of his home crowd and is hoping to step up to the next level when the team arrives at Perth Motorplex.
“We always say we just want to make it from A to B, go fast and put on a great show for the crowd, but for the Aeroflow event on January 5 we want to beat our personal best of 5.54sec.,” Leahy said.
“The Willowbank event was a great day for our team. To pick up the gold trophy at the end of the night was an incredible feeling and something that I never thought would happen. Seeing my crew coming down the return road and being so excited is something I will never forget, but we will definitely be working hard to chase it again.
“Perth has always treated us well in the past with personal bests, so to go faster would put the icing on the cake.”
To try and pick up valuable time on the track, Leahy said he will be concentrating on his shifting, which can be difficult in the 4000 horsepower nitro-fuelled cars as they do not have a shift lift, relying on the driver’s hearing and feel.
“I have picked up a bad driving habit of short shifting. Hopefully holding my shift point out further we might be able to achieve that personal best.”
Leahy’s winning experience at Willowbank has left him hungry for the next victory, but to get to the podium he will first have to confront WA’s Andrew Katavatis in ‘The Beach Bomb’. The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars draw their rounds ahead of the event and Leahy drew Katavatis for the opening stanza.
“I have raced just about everyone in the series, but I haven’t raced Andrew yet so this will be exciting. He is sharp on the tree (starting lights) and a tough contender so I know I am in for a challenge.”
Leahy will be one of ten Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car drivers competing for the title on Saturday, with the category set to be joined on track by the Summer Slam, Top Comp, Nitro Bikes Outlaw Radial and more.
The Pit Party for the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars begins from 4.30pm with the main show beginning on track from 5.30pm.
– Perth Motorplex Media Release, image by Phil Luyer.
