THE COOL ONES

ROHAN HUTSON FAMILY TRUCKSTER SWIFT CHEV THAT DOUBLES AS A

Rohan Hutson YOU get the feeling for shoebox Chevys has a bit of a thing In ’55s in particular. in general, and the things, including fact, he has six of station drop-dead-gorgeous a this car – a wicked wagon. Oh, and too that looked way black four-door a thrashed down tidy to be getting six when you’ve got drag strip. Still, can be a bit daring. of ’em, maybe you nitrous-assisted a Up front there’s 170hp shot. 383 Chev with a car; it does mid10s “It’s a fast family and the baby seats with air con said. “I love it; bolted in,” Rohan cool – all steel, the ’55s are just carby motor.” plastic, old-school the car ran Up until Day Four, 10.9s and staying flawlessly, hitting the long country relatively cool on Hill, she lost oil drives. But at Swan the oil pick-up pressure after spitting off pulled the sump off the block. “I there was the oil and sure enough, so around in there, pick-up rattling on and were back we welded it back said. in business,” Rohan a he’s already got Rohan reckons works for next year 434-cuber in the run nines! that he hopes will

NATHAN CLARKE GENUINE XU-1, BUILT ON A BUDGET, RUNS MID-10S

PENRITH’S Nathan Clarke calls them ‘rivetcounters’; you know, the folks who wander up to your car at a show and proceed to tell you where you went wrong, usually along the lines of: ‘That hose clamp should have the part number facing up.’ And he seems to be a magnet for them, mainly because his little black Torana with the centrifugal blower peeking from the cut-out in the bonnet is a dead-set, fair-dinkum, honest-to-god genuine LC GTR XU-1. And the rivet-counters, just can’t well, they get their heads around doing proper that to a XU-1. But before you start hating on Nathan yourself, consider that the conversion was done way back in 1990, when XU-1S were still lying around in front yards under tarps. With 350 cubes, a Vortech blower and a low weighbridge ticket, the little XU-1 fairly scoots along, and with a set of 13x7 Mickey Thompson slicks bolted on, the LC gets across the quarter in 10.5@132mph. Nathan switched from E85 to 98 for DC, and to keep her happy on the street, he took the blower belt off and let it run aspirated in between the tracks. “I didn’t even have to change the tune, and it got pretty decent fuel economy!”

GREG RICHARDS CRUISING LONG AND LOW

the LESS than a month before Drag Challenge, Richards’s dead-stock 351 Cleveland in Greg over 100 Ford Fairlane gave up the ghost after nitrous-assisted passes. heads, “All I did to that motor was recondition the a heap of upgrade to ARP head bolts and throw taking a nitrous at it,” he said. “In the end it was 210-shot and running 11.13@123mph.” Fortunately Greg already had a 427-cube ready to Windsor-based Dart motor built up and the new rock ’n’ roll, so it was a mad rush to get engine in and ready for Day One at Calder. done “Before the event the new motor had only on the about 100km of driving, including tuning First pass dyno, so it was very fresh,” Greg said. of Drag it went 11.2@120mph, and by the end Challenge it did 10.97@124mph. zero dramas Driving on the street the Fairlane had “It cruises – amazing for a brand-new engine combo! an overdrive,” really happily because my gearbox has auto out explained Greg. It’s a Ford AOD four-speed by Lentech of a 90s Mustang that was beefed up Automatics in Canada. Laura Greg was cruising all week with girlfriend minute of Pendlebury, and the couple loved every Drag Challenge. “DC is the “Forget the other events,” Laura said. test of both quintessential revhead’s event; a full-on ever had!” driver and machine. The most fun we’ve

JOSH O’BRIEN PROCHARGED HOLDEN POWER IN A SHOW-QUALITY PACKAGE

WITH a production run of 30 years, it’s a bit of a surprise there weren’t more Holden V8s contesting this year’s Drag Challenge. Geelong local Josh O’brien’s punch-youin-the-eyes orange Holden VP ute was one of a handful of Lion-hearted vehicles in the event, so thumbs up to Josh for supporting Team Australia! Inside a factory block there’s 355 cubes thanks to a stroker crank from Pro Comp under Scat rods and JE pistons. The battle for engine bay dominance is between that sensational Aussie-made Shaun’s Custom Alloy sheet-metal intake and the F1R Procharger that pumps 14psi through a 92mm FAST throttlebody. The ute reeled off a 9.65 at Calder Park on the first day and ran similar numbers all week. “We’re out of the league a bit,” Josh reckoned, comparing himself to the rest of the Radial Blown class, but like most participants, Josh wasn’t there for trophies. The road trip, camaraderie and chance to chase his own PBS at four different tracks – and Calder twice – over five days was the real appeal.