THE NEW calendar has barely opened for business and we’re already off and racing, with Calder Park’s first Fast Friday event for 2019. Undeterred by the warm temperatures, a healthy showing of some of Melbourne’s quickest street cars lined the staging lanes, along with Scotty in the Turbo Taxi.

This outing was the first for the Taxi at the drags since the old donk let go in spectacular fashion midway through 2018. With a fresh new LPG engine under the Falcon’s bonnet, Scotty was ready to send it straight into the 10s. Unfortunately the night didn’t go to plan; the temperature didn’t drop much after the sun disappeared and the high temps played havoc with the LPG system, which saw the Taxi’s best time for the night in the mid-12s.

Danko Knezevic had a reasonable night out, with the Adicted Performance Mk1 Ford Capri running a best of 8.3@174mph with the twin-turbo Windsor, but the guys are looking for a lot more out of that car. Keep your eyes on that one in the future.

Luke Foley had a few sketchy runs in his twin-turbo VH Commodore which forced him to dial back the power a hair or two, but despite this he still put down a PB of 8.00@175mph and is now seriously close to breaking into the seven-second zone.

Luke’s brother Todd also had a successful night, getting a speed PB with a best effort of 8.96@153mph in his VH Commodore, as he starts his preparation for this year’s Drag Challenge.

Georgio Lafazanis’s Charger had its first outing since undergoing some transplant surgery, with a new more powerful Hemi six and ditching the old gearbox for a manualised 904 Torqueflite. He ran a best of 12.4 for the night, and with a few more tweaks over the coming months, Georgio is confident an 11-second pass should come his way.

Bubba Medlyn’s night ended prematurely when the torque converter in his VH Commodore let go on his only pass, but he’s already got a replacement sorted and we’re sure he’ll be back in the saddle in no time.