STRAIGHT- LINE FEVER
ALL SORTS OF HOT MACHINERY TOOK THE ASID TEST AT THE RED CENTRE NATS DRAGS
ONE thing that separates the Red Centrenats from other major street car events is the quartermile action at Alice Springs Inland Dragway. Other events may have some form of drag racing, but only at RCN can you hit the dyno, appear in the show ’n’ shine, cruise the streets and then face the Christmas tree for a full quarter-mile pass.
Adam Rogash did all of these things in his seven-second NOSHOW Clubsport, and his ear-to-ear grin showed that all the pain and suffering was worth the effort. In the two weeks leading up to the event Adam and his mates didn’t get much sleep. They relocated the turbos in the engine bay, plugged in a new 440ci powerplant with an air-to-air intercooler, repainted the engine bay, and then hit the dyno for some tuning. That’s when it all went pear-shaped; the brand new transmission let go on the dyno and set fire to the freshly painted ’bay.
Fortunately, a couple of strategically placed MPW stickers disguised the paint damage, and they plugged the transmission from Luke Foley’s Commodore into the car,
HOT RODS, MUSCLE CARS AND IMPORTS – THEY WERE ALL RUNNING AT ASID
then pulled an easy 1100rwhp before sticking the seven-second monster in the trailer for the long haul up to Alice Springs.
The guys pulled a massive all-nighter driving to the Red Centre, and it all proved a bit much for Adam’s Ford Ranger. The turbo-diesel donk wasn’t happy when they got into town, and the local road service mechanic pronounced it DOA, but at least the twin-turbo Clubsport was working fine and that served as their daily driver around town.
When the drag racing fired up on Saturday Adam rolled into stage and reeled off an easy 10-second check-out pass before returning to the line to run an 8.78@168mph – the quickest pass at the track all weekend.
It wasn’t all about Adam though; there was a solid field of street and strip machines in the pits and staging lanes. Hot rods, muscle cars and imports – they were all running at ASID.
The temps were mild for Central Australia, with the needle struggling to rise above 20 degrees, and the cool air helped a few guys to new personal bests.
Saturday was purely grudge racing, and it allowed guys to dial-in their combos for Sunday’s racing. If you were ready to roll, and didn’t have to work on anything in the pits, you had access to more track time than anyone could possibly need.
ADAM ROGASH REELED OFF AN 8.78@168MPH – THE QUICKEST PASS AT THE TRACK ALL WEEKEND
Sunday was race day, and the officials split the field into two groups based on their runs from the day before. The Pro class was anything that ran 11.99 and quicker, while the Street class was 12.00 and upwards. All racing was run on a dial-in elimination format. There were no second chances here – lose and you were heading back to the pits.
The Street class final was the battle of the blue Fords, with Gavin Pocock’s XY Falcon ute up against Ray Baney’s ’65 Mustang fastback. We had a chance to check out Ray’s Mustang in the pits and it was one cleanlooking machine. “I built it so the car would look like it rolled out of the showroom straight to the speed shop,” Ray said. But he ran too fast in the final and broke out, handing the win to the blue ute.
The Pro class saw a variety of quick machinery dialled in, from high 11s down to mid-eights. After several tough rounds of racing it was Tim Bryan in the orange XW sedan up against the blue Toyota Hilux of Tom Lacey. The orange XW took the win last year, and made it two in a row with another overall win this year; that’s a pretty good effort.
But win or lose, everyone seemed to have a great time, and the fact that you could drive your drag car back to town (with the appropriate coloured cruising sticker) made the weekend just that little bit more awesome. Put this one on your bucket list for next year.