TOP 10 OUTRIGHT
1ST FRANK MARCHESE 1970 FORD XW FAIRMONT Time: 33.224sec
ONE of the quickest street-registered drag cars in Australia, Frank Marchese’s FAIRXW packs over 2000rwhp from its twin-turbo World Products Windsor. Running on Roo16 race gas, the car’s 7.36@192mph pass on Day Four stands as the quickest and fastest pass we’ve ever seen at DC.
2ND HARRY HAIG 1972 HOLDEN HQ KINGSWOOD Time: 33.374sec
HAVING run a 7.40 at Swan Hill prior to DC18, Harry Haig had his HQ SS set to kill, with the Robby Abbottbuilt, twin-turbo 540ci Bbc-powered missile leading the Outright standings for the first three days. Harry was 0.15sec off first place in the end, but easily won the Turbosmart Outlaw Blown class.
3RD LORENZO GULLOTTO 1987 HOLDEN VL CALAIS Time: 33.906sec
LORENZO rebuilt his VL Calais for DC 2018. Packing a 388ci Dart SHP based on an LS V8 with Trick Flow 255 heads and a pair of Precision 6870 snails, the combo has done 1460rwhp. At Mildura on Day Three, Lorenzo ran the event’s first-ever foursecond pass on the eighth-mile!
4TH ADAM ROGASH 1985 HOLDEN VK COMMODORE Time: 34.047sec
MPW Performance’s Adam Rogash ran a string of sevens at Drag Challenge 2018, with his ALLSHOW VK Brock tribute finishing fourth Outright and third in class. The twinturbo Dart LS Next provided enough grunt to keep Adam busy hunting traction all week, even in the top end of the track!
5TH JOHN RICCA 1987 HOLDEN VL COMMODORE BT1 Time: 34.673sec
THE quickest six-pot ever at Drag Challenge, John’s VL started life as a genuine Absynth Yellow BT1, but then he pushed the original RB30 block out to 3.2L with a Nitto stroker kit and fitted an RB26DETT DOHC head. The snail is a Gen II Garrett GTX4720 that can push up to 60psi running on E98.
6TH MATT LAMPARD 1978 HOLDEN HZ KINGSWOOD SL Time: 36.448sec
MATT’S LUMPER HZ Kingswood was at Drag Challenge with a new Ls-based combo. The near-1500rwhp twin-turbo set-up runs a 427ci Dart short motor packing six-bolt LSX heads and twin Borgwarner billet SXE64/64 turbos, with the combo capable of running either 98RON PULP or E85.
7TH BEN VLEKKEN 1984 HOLDEN VH COMMODORE Time: 36.609sec
HAVING competed in our three-day Drag Challenge Weekend event earlier in the year, Ben Vlekken actually drove all the way down from Queensland in his VH wagon for DC18. Running a Garrett GT4788 on an alloy Gen IV L98 LS, the wagon ran as quick as 8.28@167mph on the quarter.
8TH MARK VAN DER TOGT 1970 FORD XW FAIRMONT Time: 37.198sec
MARK’S twin-turbo, 393ci Windsorpowered XW won Drag Challenge Weekend in Queensland earlier in 2018, but the 3795lb brute struggled to get all its estimated 1600rwhp to the ground at DC18. It’s a true street car that often gets driven on 150km round trips to cruise nights.
9TH DAVID BEST 2003 HOLDEN VY COMMODORE SS Time: 37.405sec
TASMANIAN David Best had a fresh combo in his VY SS this year, with a Powerhouse Engines-built 430ci Dart LS Next 2 running twin Turbonetics billet 76mm snails, backed by a two-speed ’Glide and a live-axle nineinch rear-end. An 8.55@160mph on Day Two reset the car’s PB by over one second!
10TH ALEX MOSHOPOULOS 1971 FORD XY FALCON Time: 37.742
ALTHOUGH it looks like a tidy GT replica show car, Alex’s XY packs a 411ci Dart Windsor inflated by a pair of high-mounted Garrett GTX35 turbos to make 1091rwhp on E85. Impressively, the XY is Alex’s first car and he’s done over 10,000km on the street with this combo in three years.