It has been a hectic time for Western Australian Top Alcohol racer Adam Marchant in the lead up to the Nitro Champs in Sydney with a major rebuild of his dragster now complete.
After a solid performance at the Westernats which included a string of sharp 5.6 second passes, Marchant and crew had begun the task of routinely preparing the car for its trip to Willowbank to attend the Easter Extreme 3 challenge. It was during this maintenance that the crew discovered that all was not well with the rail.
“We found some major issues with the car. Cracks were found in the front end which meant we had to front half the car earlier than planned,” revealed Marchant.
“Luckily chassis guru Ian Jenkins was free and able to do it quickly and test it at the Perth season finale.
“Ian did an awesome job, working around the clock to modernise the frame to the latest SFI rules ensuring we had a safe car,” said a thankful Marchant.
After Jenkins had finished with the chassis Merchant’s work did not stop there. Missing the Easter meeting at Willowbank meant that all focus was on getting the car back on track for the Perth closer.
“It was a big four nights to make race day, after Ian had finished we had to go about putting in all the engine management and driveline stuff, we made it just in the nick of time,” he said.
The effort to get the car to the meeting paid dividends for Marchant, with virtually a new car to guide him down the quarter it was expected that some gremlins would raise their head though.
“The car drove and tracked very straight which is a good feeling after major work,” Marchant commented.
“The first lap she didn’t shift which resulted in a major rebuild to make the next run, this meant stripping the engine back to a bare block, repairing and reassembling. We put in another lap only to find a leaking burst panel on the line.
“With the eliminator round next we still had no full runs on the new car but delivered a solid5.78 in AA/D trim.” he said.
Happy with the cars performance it was decided to get the car ready for the Nitro Champ, which still meant a few more late nights to have everything ready for the Sydney challenge.
“With two weeks to prepare for the Nitro’s, we decided on a new paint scheme that we been thinking about,” Marchant laughed.
“We are really excited to be back racing Top Alcohol again, the Nitro’s will allow us to race against the best in the country and really test what we can do.”
“It will be awesome like top alky always is,” he concluded.
Marchant would like to thank all his hard working crew Jeff, Ben, Ian and Peter for all the late nights making his dream happen.Marchant Racing sponsors include M+J Walkers Contracting ,Allclass Plumbing, Steel Haul and Mandurah Diff and Trans Specialists.
See Adam Marchant take on the nation’s best alcohol racers this weekend May 3-5 at Sydney Dragway with Group 1 qualifying from 11:40am Saturday.
