DANIEL DRURY

IF THIS car looks familiar, that is because this is the ex-lorenzo Gullotto VL from Perth, which ran 7.65@180mph in Haltech Radial Blown at Drag Challenge 2018, was the first car at DC to crack into the four-second bracket on the eighth-mile, and finished third outright that year. Daniel picked up the charcoal VL as a roller recently, taking it back to his hometown of Albury-wodonga for a new motor and ECU package.

Daniel had Matt Sims Performance (MSP) build up a big-inch 428ci combo using a Dart LS Next 2.0 block, with twin low-mount 76mm turbos. On top of this,

Daniel has changed the car’s brain-box, with a new Haltech Elite 2500T ECU package given the nod, which MSP also tunes for him.

The rest of the 3430lb four-door is largely unchanged for Drag Challenge 2019. Given how fresh the car and combo is, Daniel set realistic goals for his tilt at Haltech Radial Blown. “We’re still learning the car, as we’ve never had something with this kind of potential, so my overriding goal going into this week is to get back here at Calder on Day Five. I drove the car home from town, but we really haven’t had much time in it yet.” After making a few exploratory passes on

Day One, Daniel finished the day with a solid 8.26@174mph, before a relaxed cruise up to Mildura. Over the eighth-mile, the Alburywodonga lads started getting a handle on the combo, running a 5.97@95mph on Tuesday, followed by a 5.27@128mph on Wednesday and a 5.70@123mph at Portland.

By Friday they were ready to start leaning on the VL, running a handful of seven-second passes. By the end of the night Daniel handed in a 7.87@177mph timeslip to finish his first Drag Challenge sixth in Haltech Radial Blown and eighth overall.