PIRANHA IS OUR PASSION

Race Reports

Time Traveler - Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars Benaraby

 

What a ‘barn burner’ Benaraby turned out to be.  It was perfect weather and 12 superbly presented Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars were in attendance.  In my opinion, Benaraby, the best regional track in Australia, turned it on.  Crowds packed out the place and it was equal to if not bigger than Slamfest.
 
Entertainment wise the combination of Matt Mingay with his Stunt Show, the Nitro Sheriff Wheelstander and the 11 competing Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars was amazing.  3 rounds, 15 paired Nitro passes was without a shadow of a doubt the best show ever put on at Benaraby – the number 1 regional race track in Australia.
 
They were parked out to the road and still coming in at 9.30pm at night and paying a reduced fee to catch the last round.  This I say proves the power of social media.  The crowd are there commenting on what a show and telling people by facebook or text to come on down and watch the action.  And unreal action it was.
 
Value for money is what the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars give you!  A regional race track hosting 12 cars including Harold Campbell who unfortunately could not run as there was a few more things that needed to be done to the car but he will be there at Palmyra in a month’s time.  If you got to Benaraby then do yourself a favour and go to Palmyra on the 21st June.  If you missed Benaraby then you really need to get to Palmyra to catch up on what you’ve been missing out on.  The show will be on again with a formula that works, Graeme and Wendy Cowin and the organising generals will ensure this event goes off.
 
For the Real Deal Motorsports Piranha Racing Team it was a chance to showcase in front of the local crowd which is something we take a great deal of enjoyment out of.  Since the event I have been stopped in the street from total strangers complimenting us on how great the show was and how much they enjoyed it.  We put months of preparation into the event and the ‘captain’ as we call him, our Nitro tuner Ricky Steffens flew in with his wife Christine on Friday.  Our original plan was to do a licensing pass for Zac Peirano on Friday night and then another on Saturday morning and then put Nathan into the driver’s seat for competition.  That all was turned upside down when unfortunately a young street competitor took out the wall on Friday night.  Whilst the young lad’s car was damaged, it certainly was the place to race which is exactly what Benaraby Raceway are trying to get across to the young people.  Street Racing is not drag racing.  In a controlled situation he didn’t receive any injuries except for his car and he won’t be getting a ticket from the police.  We are firmly behind the Friday night ‘Off Street Meets’ where for about $60.00 they can take their street cars and race them with an ambulance and fire crew in attendance and if something goes wrong, which seldom happens, they have all the security of a sanctioned event to keep them safe.
 
For the first time we had our new Lifestyle Merchandise with the sublimated Polo shirts including children’s sizes and also the Stith USA Printed Nostalgia style Outlaw Funny Car ‘Time Traveler’ shirts.  There were caps and stubby coolers as well and this merchandise flew out the door.  For Palmyra in Mackay on the 21st June we will also have ear plugs available for purchase as this was the item everyone wanted.
 
Early on Saturday afternoon, Zachary did the 2nd stage of his licensing under the watchful eyes of the ANDRA Stewards.  He did an exceptional job and had the chutes out by the eighth mile which is what he was instructed to do and now we will move on to Palmyra and on the Friday night he will do a full pull to the eighth mile and if everything goes well he will be doing his first 3 competition rounds against the field which will again be a ‘barn burner’ of 10 cars at least on the 21st June.
 
Onto racing and in the first round, we met Daniel Schultz who has been travelling very well and had previously won a round at Mildura.  After getting the reaction time advantage with .089 light compared to Daniels .138 some tyre spin at 300 foot meant Nathan had to pedal the car and Daniel got by us with his 4.18 at 177mph defeating Nathans 4.36 at 169mph.  Considering it was Nathan’s first pass in the Nitro car since Sydney in November 2013 it was an extremely good effort.  The next two passes we were paired against the same competitor, Glenn Moore in the ‘Bad to the Bone’ car from Mackay.  Nathan won a wild pedalling contest in the second round as he rode the centreline for much of it and with 3 pedals ran a 4.56 at 155mph to Glenn’s 5.58.   In the Final round he picked up low elapsed time for the round going through with a 4.09 at 181mph and that is over the eighth mile.  For us it was the pass of the night being clean and smooth at 9.30pm in the dewy conditions which makes it a lot harder to get down the track.  We were all extremely happy and went back to the pits and stripped the motor and put a new rack of rods of pistons in so it will be ready to go for Mackay.
 
Our plan now is to finish getting the Piranha Hot Rod which is being repowered with a new TFX built by Paul Shackleton in Mackay ready to go for the Winternationals which is the biggest meeting in Australia held at Willowbank Motor Sports Complex on 6th -9th June.  If you find yourself down that way call in and see us.  You will find us down in the back corner as there are around 400 competitors at this event.
 
Two weeks later we will be off to Palmyra with the nitro car so there is a lot to do and we couldn’t do it without the fantastic crew which includes Nathan & Raquel, Zac & Bec, our neighbour Alan Croft, Greg Belz, Craig Avenell, Uncle Ralphy, Jeff & Denise Carr and the grandkids.  It is a family event for us and we generally have all the grandkids at the track and it is one of the reasons that Heather and I do it.