The Hidden Valley Ford Beat the Heat Off Street event went off with a bang on Friday night with a number of teams using it as a final test session before the Macmahon Grand Re-Opening on May 13-14, 2011.
The crowd had a special treat, being witness to the first passes for Scott MacLean’s relaunched Top Doorslammer. The 1953 Studebaker now features a gloss black paint job and had recently gone through a full rebuild which appears to have paid off.
MacLean’s first timed pass was a little wayward, taking out three of the timing blocks as he crossed the centre line at the 1000ft mark, but he still managed to blitzed the previous quickest pass by a Doorslammer at Hidden Valley with an elapsed time of 6.4 seconds at 180mph. The previous quickest pass was Ben Bray in 2008 with a 6.62 at 191.48mph.
But MacLean didn’t stop there, he turned the Studebaker around and raised the bar even higher, pulling a solid 6.287 second run at 225mph. With their home track knowledge, MacLean and Matt Abel are going to have a competitive edge over some of the interstate teams including Gary Phillips and John Zappia.
“Having the Willowbank Raceway track curators Rob and David Hunter here throughout the evening has re-assured local officials and racers that Hidden Valley is going to be a very competitive track for the Grand Re-Opening” said HVDRA President Jay Jukes.
“Seeing Scott roll off the trailer and smash the previous quickest pass by nearly 0.4 seconds shows that we are in for some very quick runs during the official opening.”
Hidden Valley now prepares for the Macmahon Grand Re-Opening on May 13-14, 2011 which will feature a full field of Top Doorslammer teams including Territorians Matt Abel and Scott MacLean, as well as current Australian champion and record holder, John Zappia. The Doorslammer field will also consist of Deno Brijeski, Frank Mamone, Gary Phillips, Ivan Skaramuca, Reece Melenewycz, Marty Dack, and Peter Kapiris.
