In an example of just how tough Perth drag racing has become, Rob Pilkington missed making the final by mere hundredths of a second at the second round of the WA Top Comp championship.
Following on from victory in the ANDRA Pro Series in November, Pilkington and the team were confident they could continue to make an impact.
The Alutech/CTS Funny Car returned to AA/FC classification, giving the team a slightly easier record to chase and the weekend’s campaign began well with a quick 5.77sec run putting Rob underneath the national record and well in contention.
“The 5.77 was the sighter we really needed early,” he said. “When you change between classes sometimes you have a few tune up bugs to iron out but there were no such issues this time.”
Stepping up the car for the elimination round, Pilkington and the team made a clutch setting change with hopes for even quicker times again but the dreaded tyre shake returned.
“The car has been prone to shake but we didn’t expect it this time,” he said. “When the tyres start shaking you need to get on and off the throttle to get it to grip again but by doing that you can lose valuable hundredths of a second.”
The 5.86sec time that resulted was not quick enough to make it into a final, demonstrating the tough nature of Top Comp.
“It goes to show how good all the racers are here,” he said. “It wasn’t exactly a disastrous event, we did really well. We’ll just need to find that extra bit of performance for Boxing Day.”
Pilkington will be out on December 26 to try to boost his chances at claiming a fourth state Top Comp title.
“It’s early in the season so we’re not too worried yet, our team has shown plenty of consistency in the past and that’s what it takes to be number one at the end of the season,” he said. “We got to test some new changes to the race car set up and with that in mind I think we’re in for a good event. I like the look of that winner’s circle.”
Rob and Jackie Pilkington would like to thank all their valued sponsors for their continuing support.
