SIX SHOOTER!

> MARK DREW AND HIS ‘CRUSTY’ LH TORANA STORM INTO THE SIXES AT KENDA SYDNEY

THE performance potential of true street cars seems almost limitless in this day and age, and Mark Drew proved that during testing for the recent Kenda 660 Drag Radial Series event at Sydney Dragway (see p.82 for our full coverage!) when he smashed through the six-second barrier.

Mark sent his turbo Ls-powered ‘Crusty’ LH Torana to the moon, clocking two six-second passes over the quarter, the best coming in at 6.98@198mph. Thursday testing was the only day of quarter-mile running, but that didn’t stop Drewy and the LH from nailing more personal bests over the weekend. He also bettered his eighth-mile PB with two 4.49@160mph runs, and to top it off, he managed a 1.10-second 60-foot.

When we asked Drewy where this newfound pace had come from, his answer was surprisingly simple: “It’s all from the gearbox,” he said. “We’d been having issues with converter slip and bleeding fluid internally, and Jason from Dominator Converters put me onto a new transmission guy who sorted those issues out.

“The rest of the package and car is essentially the same apart from a new cam; even the converter is the same one,” he continued. “We could see the issues with the old set-up on all the data and sensors I had for the trans, and with those sorted, the results speak for themselves.”

The really exciting part for us is that the Drag Challenge regular has a ticket to our jam-packed five-day marathon at the end of October, and he’s looking to bring that pace to the drag-and-drive affair.

“I’ll look to do some testing at Heathcote to get the car familiar with that track, but if we can get it down, we should be able to get some low sevens and have a good crack,” he said. “All going well, we’ll turn it up towards the end.”

And if you reckon it’s not possible for

a six-second car to drive on the street – respectfully, you’re wrong. “I use it on the street all the time,” Mark said. “I took it to work just a few weeks after running the six. The blokes at work can’t believe it!”

Groundbreaking moments like this can’t be achieved without a dedicated team behind you, and Drewy couldn’t stop singing the praises of everyone that helped him in the lead-up to and during Kenda Sydney. “I’ve gotta give a big thanks to Tim Bailey, Shane Marshall, Jeff Johnson and Lauren Black, Jason from Dominator, Chris Imlach, my son Jude and everyone else who was there along s the way.”

I USE IT ON THE STREET ALL THE TIME. I TOOK IT TO WORK JUST A FEW WEEKS AFTER RUNNING THE SIX. THE BLOKES AT WORK CAN’T BELIEVE IT!