KING OF THE STREET

One of the first events to hit the rejuvenated Heathcote Park Raceway

TUNNEL Vision’s King Of The Street made a triumphant return to Heathcote Park Raceway for its sixth and largestever running, with nearly 100 of Australia’s quickest roadgoing cars facing off for top honours over an early-march weekend. Organised by Tunnel Vision Turbocharging in partnership with Mustang racer John Colaidis, King Of The Street was conceived as a way to crown Australia’s swiftest proper street cars. All vehicles entered must be road-registered, have a full interior and a complete exhaust system. All fuel types are accepted, as is nitrous.

The last KOTS event was held at Ballarat Airport back in 2018, where cars fought for traction on an unforgiving no-prep airstrip. “A lot of people wanted more of a prepped track,” says John. “It’s more interesting when both cars can hook up off the line.”

This time around, the main competition was divided into four classes: 255 Radial and 275 Radial each raced to the eighthmile mark, while Radial Open took place across the full quarter for outlaw-style cars. Dial Your Own ran in the eighth-mile format.

A burnout competition and Victoria’s first roll racing sessions were added to this year’s roster and took place on the Sunday for an extra taste of horsepower.

Lance Warren and his team have been working tirelessly to rejuvenate Heathcote Park Raceway since taking the reins in January, and it’s already paying off in spades. Fuelled by the promise of mild weather, a well-prepped track and a line-up of incredibly fast streeters, turnout was huge, with many punters

THE SIXTH AND LARGEST-EVER RUNNING OF THE EVENT SAW NEARLY 100 OF AUSTRALIA’S QUICKEST ROAD-GOING CARS FACING OFF

describing it as the biggest in recent memory. “Between entrants and spectators, we had 3000 people on Saturday and 2000 on Sunday,” John says. “There haven’t been crowds like that since the Top Fuellers and Doorslammers back in the day!”

A test-and-tune session was held on the Friday, which saw plenty of contenders dialling in cars both old and new. It was also a chance for our very own Scott Taylor to give the Trolvo a shakedown with its new go-fast parts.

Our 1Jz-transplanted Volvo 240 made its drag-strip debut at Portland’s South Coast 660 back in January. Despite being hampered by an undersized fuel system, it ran an impressive 7.35@97mph over the eighth – equal to about 11.5 on the full quarter-mile. Scotty responded by wedging some Raceworks fuel pumps into the car, capable of supplying up to 1200hp of capacity.

With the new pumps working away happily, the Swedish missile ran a 10.97@123mph at KOTS – before snapping an axle in proper Carnage fashion.

Proper competition got underway on Saturday afternoon, with the staging lanes packed with all manner of road-legal muscle. A Mitsubishi Scorpion faced off against a chopped ’55 Chevy, followed by an Ls-powered Lamborghini and Procharged Bronco. Boosted cars were the order of the day, with big hairdryers hanging off everything from 1JZS and Falcon Intech donks to big-cube LS mills.

THERE HAVEN’T BEEN CROWDS LIKE THIS SINCE THE TOP FUELLERS AND DOORSLAMMERS BACK IN THE DAY

A VARIETY OF AUSTRALIAN AND FOREIGN RIDES WERE ON DISPLAY, BUT BOWTIE-POWERED HOLDENS DOMINATED THE FINAL STANDINGS

Though a variety of Australian and foreign rides were on display, Bowtie-powered Holdens dominated the final standings.

Brendan Cherry got his 700hp HK Monaro back on the road after a four-year hibernation, taking the 255 Radial gong on Saturday evening against Matt Hohenhaus’s 1Jz-powered XM Falcon. Brendan drove the former SM feature car all the way back to Melbourne after the event.

275 Radial was claimed by Alex Blias in his big-cube HQ GTS. Mark Drew took runner-up in his ‘Crusty’ Torana after a suspected oil leak saw him sidelined by track officials. Mark also recorded the quickest pass of the day, laying down a 7.72-second quarter-mile.

Luke Pace unexpectedly defeated Adam Rogash in his turbo Ls2-powered VN Commodore, earning Open class honours, while Wayne Cartledge took out Dial Your Own, and then drove his HK Premier home in the rain like the true street car it is.

Our Volvo returned to the track too, thanks to a locally sourced spare axle. After replacing the mangled unit overnight, Scotty scored another PB with a 10.95@124mph.

The success of King Of The Street 6 was not only a win for the event organisers, but also the raceway’s new custodians. “It’s a credit to Lance and those guys,” John enthuses. “They’ve done so much work in a short amount of time, and it’s only going to get better!”

John says plans are underway to make King Of The Street a permanent fixture on Victoria’s Labour Day weekend, with a oneday Heathcote event also slated for October.

Pat Primerano’s real-deal EA Brock Falcon is likely the quickest in Australia. The rare sedan packs a 3.8L single-cam donk with billet internals, plus a GT45 turbo. Pat’s owned the car for 25 years, and these days it’s good for 930hp. A Reid-case Powerglide from Preston Autos handles shifting duties, while 380mm AP Racing stoppers up front rein in the power

1. John Colaidis brought along his ludicrous twin-turbo Windsorpowered Mustang, competing in the Open class. He finished in third place after being knocked out by Luke Pace’s VN. “It was a bit hectic trying to organise everything and also race my own car, so I probably won’t do that again!” he laughed 2. Mick Manariti last took his Aussie-delivered Galaxie 500 down the strip a decade ago, just before it featured in our March 2011 issue. Family commitments kept him away from racing since then, but he returned for a run in the DYO class at KOTS. With a tunnel-rammed 572ci big-block and a shot of gas, Mick was aiming to smash his last ET of 11.3 3. Kon Tsiokos debuted his stunning ’63 Nova at KOTS. Power comes from a Procharged 400ci small-block, backed by a Turbo 400, tubs and a four-linked, 9in rear end. Kon fabricated the intake pipe himself, proudly leaving it unfinished. The car was imported from the US by famed basketballer Andrew Bogut, with all fab work by Kon. With boost turned down and little timing, the Nova laid down 900hp 4. Adam Zovko’s lockdown-built TA23 Celica features an all-toyota driveline. A Gtx3076r-boosted 1JZ feeds a R154 manual ’box, while a Hilux diff spins the rears. The combo is good for 400rwhp, which Adam said should yield him a 10sec pass

1. John Ricca took out the Quickest Six gong at Drag Challenge 2018, but has since completely rebuilt his VL Commodore with a twin-turbo, 427ci LSX deal. John is aiming for the 6sec zone with this thing and is on his way, running a 7.80@175mph on debut at KOTS 2. Three-time Drag Challenge winner Quentin Feast was also in the sevens, but his Torana’s longsuffering engine cried enough in spectacular fashion after seven years of racing 3. The Heathcote strip saw many new cars go shoulder-to-shoulder with more established racers. Nik Hatzis’s HQ Kingswood runs an iron-block 5.3L LS built by Kanaris Engines. A Garrett Gen II 88mm turbo provides boost, with the whole assembly controlled by a Haltech Elite 2500 ECU. It’s laid down 1000hp on the Quickbitz dyno. A drag racing newby, Nik was stoked to run an 8.86@154mph on Friday. “I’ve done 17 passes in my whole life, and three were 8sec!” he said 4. Another former SM feature car, Ali Elseidy’s FD LTD is pure sleeper. Once the pinnacle of luxury Aussie motoring, the car now hides an AU Intech six, destroked to 3.8L and forcefed by a Garrett GTX42 snail. “I did 15 passes back-to-back on Friday, and didn’t open the bonnet,” Ali enthused. Racing in the 275 Radial class, Ali’s PB is 9.50@141mph 5. Luke Foley nabbed his first 7sec Heathcote pass in his welltravelled, twin-turbo VH, nailing a 7.90@176mph

1. Noted Ford Pro Mod pilot Dom Luppino was having a ball in an unusual vehicle for him – a 1Jz-powered LC Torana street car. Dom had a killer barbecue set-up going too – thanks for the souvas, mate! 2. Nik Bolonis’s unmistakeable Lamborghini Jalpa runs a boosted LS in place of its original 3.5L V8. Since we covered the rare Lambo in our October 2013 issue, Nick has swapped the blower for a set of rearmounted turbos and a lick of no-nonsense black paint. Power gets to the wheels through a Toyotabased transaxle 3. Adam Rogash’s ALLSHOW was looking more stunning than ever and pulled a 7.8sec pass off the trailer in Friday testing. On race day, the VK went straight into the finals of Open Radial, but the win went to Luke Pace’s VN 4. Scotty had a great weekend in the Carnage Volvo, running the car’s first 10sec pass off the trailer on Friday. He then snapped an axle, jagged a replacement and was back on Saturday to run another PB: 10.95@124mph!