STREETCAR

When we featured Brendon Shearing’s HQ Monaro late last year, we mentioned that he wanted to build a new motor for it so he could drop his PB of 9.34 at 149mph. That new motor has now been built by Greg Hiddleston and, on the car’s first full- track pass at Ruapuna, has pushed the car into the eight- second zone with an impressive 8.91 at 157mph. Sadly, at half- track on the second pass, the transmission gave up, ending Brendon’s day, and season, early. The new combo is built around an all-alloy Keith Black block with Brodix BB4 heads and topped with a 14- 71 supercharger. With that, the change has been made from avgas to C16. With just the one run so far to judge by, Brendon is happy with the car’s new performance — although he did say that the second run was better till half- track, so there’s still more in it. That will have to wait till next season, though — or perhaps the annual Father’s Day Drags. We’d love to see Brendon run there, but it’s a long haul from Invercargill! Brendon’s good mate, Warren Black, driving his own Monaro, also ran a new PB at the event — 9.86 at 138mph — jumping up two spots on our New Zealand’s Quickest Streeters list in the process. It’s not just been the Southerners who have stepped up, either, as Wanganui’s Dean Scott ran his Holden ute to a new PB of 8.34 at 165.18 at the NZDRA Nationals at Masterton Motorplex. While the car doesn’t fit our Quickest Streeters list, due to its use of methanol, it does carry a WOF and rego, and was very recently spotted at a local breakfast meet. So, with that said, it is technically New Zealand’s second- quickest street car, after Reece Fish’s ’ 56 Bel Air. Tauranga’s Shane Ryland also got some decent track time in his recently turbocharged Holden Torana, running a string of nine- second passes, the best a 9.65 at 140mph. That impressive time was run on just 7psi boost, giving the car around 670hp at the wheels, although it is capable of plenty more. Shane’s plan at this stage is to tidy up the rear end a bit over winter, and, all going to plan, try to compete at the Father’s Day Drags, where he hopes to add a bit more boost progressively throughout the gears.