Zappia Racing presented the Fuchs / Striker Crushing Monaro for racing in Top Comp at the Perth Motorplex Nitro Funny Car meeting this last weekend, and narrowly missed out on a finals berth after a great 5.814 @ 247.93mph elimination run.
“The 5.814 is our quickest pass for this season and it has taken us a while to get a handle on the new engine package” said Zappia after the event, “We tried some new things this meeting, and went back over our extensive database of runs, and finally came up with a combination that worked”.
“We have run 25 full quarter mile passes this season, with over 50% of those in the “fives” – that’s pretty good racing. We have had 5 unrepresentative runs though (20%) with several of those at critical points in the event that have cost us wins and championship points this year. That is a result of us wanting to push the boundaries and move onto new territory in our racing. No “five sevens” yet this season, but we are working on that for the future”.
“Earlier in the day in the qualifying run, the car was just an animal – smoking the tyres and wheel standing, and I just had to abort the run. The brutal power we have developed is very aggressive and the key is taming the beast to get it down the track consistently”.
The compulsory qualifier at 6pm saw Zap having to pedal at about 200 feet out, and then suffer a simple mechanical failure on the throttle link that took power away – and he rolled through for a 6.695 @ 149.00 mph.
“The first eliminator race against Shane Weston in the AA Dragster was a cracker, but I red lit with a -0.029 reaction time to pass the win over to Weston. The 5.814 was good enough on my 6.26 index (0.446 under), as Shane went 5.836 on a 6.21 index (0.374 under). That would have given us a B Final – but that was not to be”.
“We are pretty happy with the days racing, and with one more meeting here in Perth on the 6th April, we are building to Round 4 of the ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer Championship at Sydney with a tune and setup that should help us chip away at the Championship leaders”.
John Zappia sits third in the Championship on 185 points, behind a rejuvenated Victor Bray on 208 points, and in form Peter Kapiris on 271 points.
Photo By Gardener Broz.
