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Whilst not a club event, the temptation to get the trusty old Torana out for a day at the drags got the better of me. Not only were 2 mates with other Torana’s already going, but a challenge was put forward from the guys over on the XFalcon Ford Forums. They wanted to race their Fords against some Torana’s! That was all the motivation I needed, so come Sunday morning we set off for Heathcote, 120 litres of fuel on board, crossing the fingers that I wasn’t going to break anything…. The trip went smoothly, and we arrived just as racing was about to start. I got LXCHEV scrutineered straight away and parked the old beast to try and get some of the heat out of it. Yep, it was already another stinker of a day – the timeslips told the story – 37 degrees. Around this time the other Torana crew rocked up – Alan & Leanne from the club with the 355-Powered yellow LJ, TUFF73 in race trim, and also another mate with a hottie little triple carb’d 186 LC (I believe original GTR XU-1?). At this stage we had not yet sighted the Ford boys…. And so the day got underway. For me, it was one of those days where the car felt ok, but just not great. I ran a string of 12 second passes, my best being 12.20 @ 113mph. All in street trim, full exhaust and BFG Radials. Same times as always, although I was a bit disappointed seeing as I now had my brand new custom made 4-into-1 extractors on, making an extra 35 rear-wheel KW than my old exhaust (which I ran 11.99 with). Fair enough that was a cold night at Calder, so all food for thought. This is what drag racing is all about – making changes, good and bad and seeing what result it has on the strip. All-out power figures on the dyno are nice, but really not the be-all and end-all. That quarter mile E.T. is what counts, and it doesn’t lie. Have I sacrificed too much low-down grunt? Time will tell….. My highlight for the day was clear – when Alan and I lined each other up. A big thumbs up to each other, a quick burnout to get those tyres ready, and onto staging. Geez it was a great race. There was nothing in it, we both got off the line pretty well and let me tell you – all I could see was this bloody yellow car next to me, I couldn’t get rid of it!! He beat my over the line by a tenth or two, we were both grinning like mad idiots, our right feet trying to mash those accelerators clean through the firewall! (I believe Alan was also paddling his arms through the air which is how he managed to beat me). Chatting after the race he came straight up and said all he saw the entire race was a bloody blue car! Classic. Now that’s what I call good racing. At the end of the day he had managed a best of around 12.1 (a new personal best). The interesting thing was Leanne was running 12.2’s, so watch out mate!!!! Aaron had also managed some great times in his LC – from memory some low 14’s. You gotta love the sound of those triple carb’d 6’s… So anyway, it was a great day of racing. The Ford boys rocked up with a small handful of cars – some 6 banger streeters (mainly XF’s), running into the 16’s and 17’s, a nice fresh 383 powered XE that went 13.2, and of course their secret weapon drag car – a TC Cortina called ‘NOGAS’ which ran consistent 11.1’s, with a best of 11.09 for the day (without hitting the giggle gas). A great bunch though, and they were nice enough to put up some trophies for the Ford v Torana challenge. Their quickest 6 versus our quickest 6, and their quickest 8 against ours. Two run-off’s – with Aaron bringing home the gold for our guys, winning the 6 cyl class, and their guys taking out the V8 class with their drag car beating Big Al over the line. Another successful day at Heathcote. Cruising back through Heathcote town on the way home, I was pulled over by their local copper. He took a quick disliking to my non-original air-cleaner, my breathable oil filler cap, and my exhaust system. Nasty, nasty!! Full canary. $170 fine, and 2.5 hours to have the car home and off the road. I took the news nice & calmly and snapped off a quick photo of the Defect Notice (it was my first!), but Deb, well, she was ready to blue. Luckily for the cop he got back on his way, so no scene was made. We still had a fun trip home, and although the day had a sour end, would I do it all over again? You bethcya!!! - Brett |