Well, its been a long time since we made it to a final at a National event. In 2014 we won the Australian Nationals but since then the competition has been intense and wining times have dropped from 5.9 to 5.7 or even 5.6 seconds for the quarter mile.
Sigra’s Saratoga Doorslammer is one of the last cars running a clutch, 3 speed Lenco and Magneto ignition, with most teams now running 5 speed, Torque converter and Coil on plug ignition, but we are still improving by small steps and knocking on the door of a 5.6 pass.
Sydney’s Nitro Thunder on Saturday 8th May was a rain affected meeting, with no chance to have scheduled shakedown runs on Friday due to rain all day.
So we lined up for Rnd1, with new tyres and no track data on patchy track with bald spots all over. More like drifting than drag racing, but a very untidy 5.86 took the win.
The track did not get better but Rnd2 we managed 5.79 at 250mph with a heart stopping slide towards the wall and a pedal to edge out Emilio Spinozzi for another win and in to the final.
Sam Fenech and I go back nearly 20 years since we raced Super sedan, both driving white LJ Toranas and it was great to line up against him in his return from a huge crash a while back and now driving for the AC Delco team. Sam is a great driver and the track conditions ensured that nobody was going to have an easy ride. Another untidy 5.86 by the Saratoga lost an early lead and Sam took the win with a 5.74.
Thanks as always to the Sigra crew – on the start line and in the pits – makes my job as tuner and driver much easier. Congratulations to the Sydney Dragway team – big spectator numbers, and a huge effort with the track and scheduling in very difficult conditions, losing a whole day to rain.
We’ll take a winter break and be back in the spring.
A couple of nice photos from Ian Elliot Photography are attached and lots of videos of our cars and bikes over the years in the YouTube link below.
