EXPERIENCE counts for a lot when you attack any form of racing, but not many can lay claim to five consecutive class wins in Drag Challenge events like Alon Vella and his Mk1 Ford Capri can.

Having won four Radial Aspirated titles (three in regular Drag Challenge and one in our first Drag Challenge Weekend earlier this year) coming into DC 2018, Alon was well rehearsed in what was needed to keep his little Capri at the front of the field, so a top-ranked result wouldn’t have raised too many eyebrows. Even so, his sheer dominance throughout the entire event was remarkable, starting off with a margin of 1.1 seconds at the end of Day One and never looking back, stretching the gap to an eye-watering 5.2 seconds by the end of the week.

To top off his authoritative display, Alon’s PB for the week was 8.69@152mph – not only the quickest pass Alon’s ever made in the car but also the quickest aspirated pass in DC history.

The 450ci Windsor from BG Race Engines was the only aspirated engine to make it into the eights for the week. Damian from BG confirmed the boys took on both the street and strip with virtually no issues on the way to their big win: “No dramas this year. All the things that let us down last year we fixed up, and this year has been really smooth and we’re ready for the next one.”

Despite his success, the racer in Alon still wants to push even more out of the little Capri, with goals of chasing down a seven-second pass and potentially taking his racing overseas. “We don’t know where we’re going to go to from here – maybe Drag Week in America, see how we fare over there,” Alon said.

Needless to say, it’d be pretty awesome to see the green machine running low numbers at next year’s Hot Rod Drag Week!

TROPHIES
Winner – Pacemaker Radial Aspirated

ALON VELLA
1971 FORD CAPRI MK1

Class: Pacemaker Radial Aspirated

SPECS
Engine: 450ci Windsor
Transmission: C4 & Gear Vendors
Converter: SDE 7200rpm
Diff: 4.11:1
Power: 1000hp
Previous PB: 8.73@155mph
Best Drag Challenge 2018 Pass: 8.69@152mph