Drag Challenge Weekend 2018 Radial Blown and Aspirated – day two

There was high drama aplenty in the radial classes on day two of Street Machine Drag Challenge Weekend 2018

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Photographers: Nathan Jacobs, Chris Thorogood

RADIAL tyres are the hotness in drag racing at the moment and Drag Challenge Weekend is no exception, with a ton of killer 275 radial-shod cars out to play.

In Pacemaker Radial Aspirated, Al Vella is asserting his dominance in his ridiculously tough Capri, which ran in the eights at Willowbank, then reeled off an impressive 5.85@118mph over the eighth mile at Warwick today through a full exhaust system. It was one of just a handful of cars in the fives today, and the only one to achieve it without the help of artificial aspiration.

In second place in Radial Aspirated at the end of Day Two is Pat O’Shea’s gorgeous two-tone Falcon, with Brodie Olsen’s kick-arse, plastic-powered LX Torana nipping at his heels.

Drag Challenge regular Nathan Ghosn is well-placed to capitalise on any mistakes made by the top three heading into the final day of competition, after overcoming his fair share of mechanical hurdles on the way to Warwick.

Everyone in Tuff Mounts Radial Blown was pulling power out of their combos, except Jon Fulton, who cracked off a 6.79 at 102mph on his first pass and was absolutely stoked. “On a full quarter-mile my car is hitting limiter before the finish line, but that wasn’t an issue on the eighth-mile,” says Jon. “Multiplied by 1.555 it equates to a 10.5 which is a PB for the Bluebird!”

Jamie Farmer had to pedal his Dirty Bird like a madman, but eventually got down to a 5.897. It wasn’t enough to beat Mark Van Der Togt’s twin-turbo XW, which laid down a 5.746. “We have taken all the power out, and then even more,” says Mark. “I ran it on 12psi, which is wastegate pressure, but it still turned the tyres through the finish line.”

Dave Williams wanted to get a run in and hit the road, so he could concentrate on running a crazy time at Willowbank on Day 3. He ran PSI PREM on wastegate pressure, but still knocked the boost cut and wound up with a 6.784.

We unfortunately lost Brad Lane’s epic LH Torana in a huge crash on the slick track surface. The twin-turbo Dart LS Next-powered sedan clouted the wall hard and will need plenty of work, which sucks as it had looked like a jet prior.

At the end of play Ben Vlekken came out on top running a 5.666, though it took a swag of runs to get it done. “It took a lot of fine tuning, between taking too much out and having too much power,” says Ben.

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