Jason Mansweto has again sent his reigning Street Machine Summernats Grand Champion 2ENIL8 Falcon to new heights, belting out a 7.92-second quarter-mile at Sydney Dragway’s Grudge Kings event last weekend.

Jason hit Grudge Kings fresh from a hub dyno session at Precision Racing, where he put the 652ci big block through its paces. With the bonnet open and no carb spacers installed, the XW laid down 915hp in N/A form on its first run.

Following a few pulls with varying shots of nitrous, Jason eventually fed the car a 375hp shot for a stonking 1269hp at the wheels.

A few reversible, race-focused changes have been made since the XW’s dominant showing at Summernats 34, including a custom-fabbed cold air intake, relocated shock points and Gazzard Bros double-adjustable shocks and coilovers for hard launches, alongside tech-friendly mods like a race seat and ‘chute mount.

During last Friday’s pre-Grudge Kings test session, Jason ran a 8.34-second quarter straight off the trailer, before changing torque converter to a better-suited unit. “I had the converter and box from my race car in it,” Jason says. “I was dirty on myself on Friday as I knew the converter wasn’t for the car, and that was the only thing that let me down at the end of the day.”

He followed up on the weekend with a 7.96, which was then pared down to a blistering 7.92@172mph. “I’m still up in the clouds somewhere,” Jason enthuses. “I was only just coming down from winning Grand Champion and this has just put me up there!”

Though Jason always aimed to notch up a seven-second pass, he’s stoked to have achieved it on his first weekend of racing. “I ticked all the boxes so I’m not surprised it did it, but it doesn’t always go to plan,” he points out. “I just didn’t expect the car to do so well, so quickly – I had no plans to go for Grand Champion this year, and I thought I’d be racing it next year.”

The decision to race such an incredibly finished car was the subject of some agonising, as Jason admits. “I didn’t do it to prove anything to anybody, it was more for myself,” he says. “We were unsure because the car turned out as nice as it, and I didn’t want to hurt the car, but I felt I wouldn’t have achieved what I set out to do if I didn’t race it. It’s proof that it can be done with a flat bonnet and standard T-bar shifter.”

Jason’s not done just yet, either, with a planned tilt at the Red CentreNATS quarter-mile next month. Not to mention that he’s a contender in the 2022 Milwaukee Street Machine of the Year.