All the action from Sydney Dragway’s first dedicated test and tune session for the New Year, check out who brought out what for a skid. You just never know what is going to be there.
The heatwave continues in Sydney as it does with most of the country so the track is water cooled before the event!
Dave Armstrong added some nitro to the air with his new front engine dragster.
A solid 6.60/214mph pass off the trailer looked good until smoke billowed in the braking area.
Inspection revealed the front rocker cover bolts had shaken loose throwing oil onto the headers and just about everywhere else, the team decided to call it a day in case there was other unseen damage.
Jeff Wilson suffered a violent accident which we have covered separately here.
Other Top Doorslammers testing included Charlie Micali, but the Duster never left the pits.
Johnny Roso has made the step out of a brief stint in Competition, his only shot ended in shake and spin by the 60ft timers.
Former Modified racer Greg Smith continues to testing his new Outlaws altered with a best of 7.07.
Peter Tusa now officially has a Supercharged Outlaw Gemini after cracking his first seven second pass.
The famous EA Falcon Top Doorslammer has returned to the Gatt fold with Benny doing the driving. A 7.09 best on this night for what this writer thinks is still one of the toughest looking drag cars going around.
Epic flame throwing from the Pac Performance Mazda6, the team hit a 6.58 at 202mph.
Andrew “The Dentist” Maratos ran a personal best of 7.04 at 193mph, making it the fastest 13B in the country.
As usual Sydney’s posse of bad ass sedans were out in force, Zoran Gajic smashed out a 6.03 at 249mph on one pass, the Mustang scraped the wall on its last pass.
Pazzo is still looking for the first radial six second pass, a 7.25 on the back of a hauling 212mph shows the Cortina has it in the bag if they can get that power down earlier.
The Fowlers have slipped on the 10.5 shoes to chase the big $10,500 payout in Adelaide and have found out what a challenge the small bags will be. Traction problems off the line and a shifting issue limited their performance to mid sevens.
Nice 8.90’s all night long, not bad for a streeter.
Mick Filipowicz also pushed into the eights with one tough street Muzzy and little more than 289 turbocharged cubes.
Mohammed Ibrahim picked up his first seven second ET in the RB30 powered Gemini with a 7.97 at 172mph.
Purge of the night goes to Paul Spatino – 9.13/144mph – 383ci Chev.
6.98 at 198mph for Calder Park event promoter Peter Pisalidis.
Rob Godfrey’s Torana is only a few passes old and already into the sevens, the trick looking aspirated Holden laid down a 7.97 at 169mph.
Troy Papadopoulos normally races a blown car in Outlaws but tried his hand at pedalling the BK Racing twin turbo Mustang and carted a 6.93 at 212MPH.
George Haramis had another brush with the wall.
Carolyn Tzortzas was out testing in preparation for another assault in True Street for the APSA series.
Responsible for kick starting so many racing careers, the godfather of Junior Dragster racing Joe Princi is loving being in the driver’s seat now of his seven second dragster.
Alex Borg smashed his best upon his insane Hayabusa with a 7.78 at 179mph, no wheelie bars remember!
The fast new Sydney based bikes are starting to breed, Carl Askew cranked a 7.60 on his nitrous Suzuki.
Matt Welch aboard the ex Locky Ireland Pro Bike suffered gearbox issues on his quickest pass to date with an 8.20 but yet to do a full pull.
Rod Barchet has given his Destroyer a sniff of giggle gas and produced a 8.69 at 151mph.
Maddy Whyte picked up her Junior license with the help of her sister’s staging and starting assistance!
Cory Burns, Josh Leonello and Tiarni Cook have also joined the Sydney Junior ranks.
Images by Grant Stephens & Neil Larsen – CacklingPipes.com
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