Taking an innovative path to success on the drag strip has been WA racer Bobby Brown, using an engine more commonly found in street cars than high performance dragsters.
Brown, 39, has expertise in the area of electronic fuel injection tuning, so when he went looking for a powerplant for his dragster his eyes settled under the bonnet of his Holden Commodore.
He used the V8 LS1 engine which has been able to produce plenty of horsepower but is also relatively cheap to run.
“I only use 16 litres of pump fuel during a race event,” Brown said.
“It’s a good car to drive, it uses the same four speed auto from the Commodore so you put it in ‘D’ and off you go – ‘D’ for drag!”
Brown explained that as the car can be driven back from the end of run, not requiring a tow car, it makes it easier to run independently without many pit crew.
Brown had another taste of success on December 26 at Perth Motorplex when he won the Modified category. It was his second event win in the car in just two seasons of racing.
“I had a dream run through eliminations, I had a bye in the first round, had a couple of wins, then a bye through the semi finals,” he said.
“My expectation was just to win one event at the start of the year, it would be great to win another one though.”
Brown will be competing in Modified again at the January 8 Night of Fire event at Perth Motorplex.
Outside of the drag strip, Brown keeps up his passion for technology in his job as an air traffic control trainer.
“I used to be an air surveillance operator in the Air Force and now I run a simulator that trainees sit in like a real console and we control the planes,” he explained.
Racing begins from 11am on Saturday with early sportsman qualifying, with the main program of eliminations, including exhibitions of the Aussie Bandit wheelstander and purpose built burnout cars, begins from 6pm.
