After an enjoyable yet troublesome season to date, Peter Lovering says he and his Chev Belair are “finally ready” to fire some competitive shots in the NDRC Top Doorslammer ranks, just in time for the upcoming Riverbend Nationals at Dragway at The Bend (April 6-7).
A great field of 3,500hp Top Doorslammers will be joined by 11,000hp Top Fuelers, Pro Stock and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Series at this event.
“This time last year we knew the NDRC was going to get off the ground, so we upgraded the car because at that point we weren’t fast enough to compete in group one despite having a long history in the bracket,” Lovering explains.
“We had been sitting out for a few years, as we felt there was no real direction – it has been great to see that we finally have a united platform with which we can grow the sport.
“I have had the car for 22 years, but this is a hugely different combination to what we are used to and so we have had to come to grips with that – we changed the engine combination, the gearbox, basically the whole driveline in the car.
“Essentially everything is different – luckily I enjoy the mechanical side of racing; we do all of our engines and gearboxes in house.
“We had a few months to get our heads around it prior to the opening round at Dragway at The Bend in October, but then we encountered what turned out to be a converter drive issue at that event and we have essentially been racing injured ever since.
“That obviously hasn’t been ideal, but we still wanted to support the NDRC by getting to as many events as possible, while doing our best to work out the problem.
“We have had a lot of help from Al’s Race Glides in Sydney and also Marty Chance in the USA and have tested heavily between meetings to try and resolve the drive issues.
“Now I am pleased to report, we are finally ready!”
Lovering’s history in the sport is a long one, with 20-plus years with the Chev Belair and more than 30 years of racing his ’55 Chev – which he started out racing back in the Oran Park days first as a street car before modifying it to run at the old school Wild Bunch meetings.
While the 51 year old is confident of a stronger showing at Dragway at The Bend this time around, he also has more plans in the works for increasing the competitiveness of his Chevrolet Belair even further.
“While we now have the latest and greatest gear you can buy, the car is heavy – we are 240 pounds overweight. But we have a new body coming for next season to get some of the weight out of it to make us more competitive,” he said.
“We have the parts to run with the best of them, we just need to get the weight out of the car now, and it will go to a whole new level.
“We hope to have the new body ready to be put on straight after the Winternationals, and it is our plan to do every NDRC round in the next season.
“I am hoping we will be able to run consistent five-seventies, which for an older car that isn’t the most aerodynamic out there, I think will be really great.
“With some consistency, we can make sure we are there ready to pounce and hopefully, we can get some wins,” he concluded, while thanking his long-time crew plus his sponsors: E1 Pool Certifier, All About Meat Butchers, KPS, Belle Lifestyle Homes, Brand Concreting, Crown Crane Hire, TLE Electrical Industrial and Data Suppliers, and Southern Blinds and Awnings.
The Riverbend Nationals will feature Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock as well as the Aeroflow National Sportsman Series across April 6 and 7 at Dragway at The Bend. For event info and tickets, go to ndrc.tv
