BRENDAN CHERRY

A VETERAN of every five-day Drag Challenge with event so far, Brendan Cherry has run from several very different cars over the years, elitelevel his original turbo LS HQ Monaro, to his to a big-block HK Monaro, and then on mate, VL Calais he originally shared with his Josh Ploeger.

Running the 572ci big-block and Borgwarner S480 turbos from his HK coupe in the big-tyre VL, Brendan and Josh have been creeping Drag up on the combo since debuting it at 2019 Challenge last year. Heading into the and event, Alipwr had freshened up the engine, ECU they’d upgraded to a Holley Dominator PB package, plus Brendan had knocked their get into the 7.7s, so hopes were high he would his red hat this year.

One, Straight out of the gate at Calder on Day a Brendan ticked that goal off his list, running car. 7.79@180mph – a new MPH PB for the if “I’d like to get the ETS down into the 7.50s we could,” Brendan said at the time. “Running we’ve a seven and nearly 181mph is great, so done what I’d initially wanted to achieve.” them Last year head gasket woes knocked was out of the DC race in Swan Hill, but 2019 a different beast, and the teal Calais cruised effortlessly up to Mildura, where Brendan really started to lean on it. Across Tuesday and and Wednesday, his 5.11@143mph 5.22@143mph locked in his second-place spot in the Turbosmart Outlaw Blown class. we “With the weather we’d had on Tuesday, it just decided to put our no-prep tune in it, and didn’t stuck,” Brendan said after Mildura. “We either, have any dramas on the big road legs even running E85 full-time.”

The difficult weather conditions in Portland behind saw Brendan finish second-quickest Haig, Outlaw Blown and Overall leader Harry of a with his 5.09@147mph four-hundredths second behind Harry’s 5.05@140mph. were Back at Calder on Friday, the boys Drag keen to run that mid-seven and finish Challenge on a high, duking out for second Overall with Daniel Szabolics’s epic big-inch not HQ Monaro. Brendan’s 7.61@184mph but only reset the car’s ET and MPH PBS, in locked him into second Overall and second Turbosmart Outlaw Blown. said “We are rapt; we are over the moon,” Brendan. “I didn’t see that second Overall so coming! The car has a fresh Alipwr engine, we came in just hoping to PB on Day One.”

“The reason I went big-block over LS is because I already had it out of my HK Monaro, so it was all there and ready to go,” said Brendan of the choice of powerplant in his VL. “There was a bit of stuffing around fitting it, but Stroke Me Fabrication did all the work; even the pipes out of the Monaro fitted into the VL. We’ve done more than we ever dreamed of with the car, so the VL is going up for sale”