BRIGHT LIGHTS

> LIGHTS OUT AT SYDNEY DRAGWAY OFFERED GRUDGE RACING AT ITS FINEST

POWERCRUISE 71 at Sydney Motorsport Park went off, as the event usually does. But in addition to the action at Powercruise proper, there was also a great Friday night of racing on offer across the road at Sydney Dragway, in the form of Lights Out.

With a crazy-cheap entry price of just $10 for competitors and spectators (and free for Powercruise ticket holders), Lights Out was bound to attract a decent turnout, and I can’t recall a meeting in recent times that was so reminiscent of the good old days of racing in Australia.

Unlike any other style of drag racing, Lights Out allows spectators to stand on the track behind the cars as they leave the line, and it made for a killer atmosphere. There was an awesome mix of cars, ranging from Lamborghinis with billet Sainty three-valve fuel engines to blown and injected 308 VK Commodores and Hemipowered Pro Streeters. It was grudge racing at its best: turbo versus blower, rotary versus V8, Ford versus Holden.

In addition to the eighth-mile, heads-up protree racing, there was also quarter-mile action, with a wide range of classes to suit every combination.

There was a classic match-up between Craig Hewitt’s Westend Performance-built blown and injected Hemi-powered Monaro and Greg Tsakiridis’s ex-moits turbo Pro Line-powered Mustang. One of the quickest cars in Australia, the ’Stang has run into the 6.50 zone in the USA. Hewitt took the win in the first round, but Greg managed two more passes, a 4.00 and a 4.09, at 199mph over the eighth!

The event also saw a great battle between two Sydney Toranas, with Johnny Habib’s nitrous-fed, 632ci big-block Chev-powered LH (which has run a 7.6@184mph with nearstock suspension) serving it to the six-second LC of Mark Hayes, also a nitrous big-block deal. In the first round Hayes blew the tyres off the 763-cube monster, handing Habib the win, but he had plenty of tuning and horsepower left in the tank for later rounds. It’d been some time since the LC had seen some racing action, but with a lot of power dialled back on the two nitrous kits, Hayes’s Torry produced a personal best later in the night against Hewitt by running a solid 162mph to half-track.

One of the more promising grudge match-ups of the night was the Hewitt Monaro against Dale Heiler’s Castle Hill Performance twin-turbo big block-powered Commodore. Heiler had been testing all day at the track, getting a better

handle on the tune-up with the new Haltech software. But the three-second staging rule was in play, meaning once one car has activated both stage lights the other car only has three seconds to engage both lights. That’s often a challenge when trying to bump in a turbo car, and so it proved for Heiler, who staged before the Commodore was up on boost and could not bump in on time.

It wasn’t all bad news for the Haltech flagship though, with Heiler running a solid 7.0@207mph over the quarter in testing.

With turbo and EFI hardware seeming to dominate so many race cars today, it was refreshing to see a number of blown and injected rides running together. One of the nicest was the blue VH Commodore of Chris Barter. The Westend-built 355-cube Holden motor is running a COME crank, solid-roller cam, Yella Terra Dash 3 heads and Bain custom intake manifold. The combination makes around 1000hp at the flywheel and has run a best of 8.9.

One of the coolest rigs of the night was Brett Gillespie’s absolutely stunning 1934 Chev. Powered by a blown Hemi, this car has been a real handful from day one and has recently had the chassis overhauled by John Willard. It was pretty ambitious of Brett to bring the car out on a track with average prep, but it sure was cool to see it making up the numbers.

Another Lights Out toughie was Adam Attard’s old Popeye Torana. The 615ci big-block Chevy combination has plenty of good gear, with an all-alloy Brodix block and Big Chief heads, and is punching out just on 1150hp aspirated. The car has had a ton of owners over the years, but Adam has been working on the ETS for a good while now and has the car running consistently in the 8.20s at 169mph.

There were no official winners for the night, but a mix of tough cars, good weather and a solid crowd was a win for the sport, racers and spectators alike. Last-minute politics that almost prevented the meeting from going ahead meant there was little promotion of it prior, hence the 125-car field. The 2019 event is bound to be bigger and better.

LIGHTS OUT ALLOWS SPECTATORS TO STAND ON THE TRACK BEHIND THE CARS AS THEY LEAVE THE LINE, AND IT MADE FOR A KILLER ATMOSPHERE