John Zappia presented his Zappia Racing team for the local Perth Motorplex event last weekend Nitro Funny Cars, and ran the quickest doorslammer pass in Australian history with a 5.814 in Craig Pedley’s Striker Crusher Monaro.
Fantastic meeting for the team and our local sponsors said Zap this week, To run quicker than our previous ANDRA Top Doorslammer National Record of 5.815 shows we are progressing down a development path that will take us into the five sevens.
Qualifying for the one day event saw Zap in trouble with the first pass, encountering a broken clutch shaft that locked the clutch up and blew the tyres off causing him to pedal and run through for a 6.441 @ 233.16mph.
Clutch guru Gerry raced back to our workshop and took the clutch shaft out of Zaps Rat, and got it ready in record time for the second qualifier with a brilliant clutch tune up. A 5.828 @ 244.56 placed us fourth in the qualifying order -0.582 seconds under our handicap index of 6.410. Also big thanks to the crew who stepped up in the absence of a couple of our regular crew members”.
First Round match up was a re-run of the Westernationals final against Robin Judd. After a little trouble getting into stage because of the clutch shaft rigging, a 0.991 sixty foot launch set Zap up for a killer run of 5.814 @ 245.23mph and a win, after Judd blew the tyres off.
That win put us in the A Final against Rob Pilkington in the AA/FC who ended up with a 6.13 handicap index against our 6.11. We hotted up the car by the smallest margin, with an eye on winning the event and just maybe cracking a five seven.
I was out first with a 0.059 reaction time to Robs 0.085, but the TFX Hemi just had too much in it and turned the tyres I had to pedal and try and run him down. A respectable 5.927 @ 243.90 mph was not enough for the funny cars 5.842 @ 248.61. Congratulations to Rob for the win.
The runner-up trophy gave Zap 90 points in the Top Comp Championship, to lead Brennan by 25 points and Pilkington by 55 points. With one round to go the Grand Final on April 10th Zappia Racing are sitting pretty to be in the running for a championship win.
A Top Comp win and championship is a coveted thing here in Perth with some very tough blown alky cars. Sixteen cars in the field and fourteen go under the index – four by more than five tenths! Thats tough racing and a real breeding ground for quick cars in Australia.
Zappia Racing finishes the Perth season off in April, then head east for the remaining round of ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer racing. The Nitro Champs are in Sydney on 30th April to 2nd May, then the big event of the year the Winternationals at Willowbank on 10th to 13th June.
For more details, photos and videos go to www.zapsrat.com.au
Naming Rights Sponsors
Striker Crushing and Screening
Major Sponsors
Fuchs, United Industries WA, Force Tools Australia, Mickey Thompson, Beta Spuds, Southside Engine Centre and Noonan Race Engineering.
Supporting Sponsors
Santhuff, Victory1, B & J Racing Transmissions, Mi Camcorders, Veem, Crow Cams, Aero Group, Legend Boatbuilders, Taylor Tyres, Kounis Metal Industries, Bravo Resources, PPG Automotive Refinish, Current Trendz, CIC High Performance Coatings, and Aurora Bearings
