North Island drivers set to make presence felt

Press, 18 February 1983, Page 13

North Island drivers set to make presence felt

At least six North Island drag racers will be joining

their South Island counterparts at the Smoky Hollow dragway. Ruapuna Park, on Sunday for the South Island championships. The competition, staged for several types of modified and production cars as well as for motorcycles, is being staged by the Pegasus Bay Drag Racing Club. The prestige Top Fuel event has attracted a strong North Island entry, with Auckland's Murray Taylor and Wayne Yearbury confirmed starters alongside the prominent Wellington contender. Keith Whiting. Taylor will be driving an Auto Trans-sponsored AA dragster. The car. powered by a 460 cu. in big block Chevrolet, is fuel-injected and supercharged and has consistently travelled the quarter mile in times marginally over 7s. Yearbury. who has recently returned from Australia. will be making his first South Island appearance in a car similar to Taylor's. Spearheading the home line-up will be the defending champion. Chris Shamy. Shamy will be driving a 460 cu. in Chevrolet built by the former New Zealand champion, Ron Collett. Like the cars belonging to the other contenders. Shamy's vehicle is capable of reaching speeds of more than 280 km/h. A North Islander, Graham Christison, second in last week's New Zealand championship at Hastings, looks a certain front-runner for the Altered class event, Christison, also the runnerup at the summer "nationals", will be racing a Fiat Topolino fibreglass replica powered by a fuelinjected 305 cu. in small block Chevrolet. Whiting, a regular visitor to the South Island, will be appearing in a Graham Berry Chevrolet dragster which he steered to victory in the summer "nationals” in Auckland. The main challenge to Christison could come from Denis McAnerin, in a C class Altered “T" Ford-bodied car driven by a 302 cu. in small block Chevrolet. McAnerin's car regularly travels the quarter mile in about 10s. Last year's champion Murray Buckingham, of Mataura, will be returning to the circuit in a 331 cu. in fuelinjected S.B.C. “T" bucket. Christchurch's Dick Powell will be competing with a similar machine.

Gary Taylor, the national champion, should take the honours in the "Gas" class for "street" appearance cars with unlimited engines. Taylor, fresh from his victory at Thunder Park, Hastings. last week, will be driving a Honda Accord powered by a fuel-injected big block Chevrolet. This car travels the quarter mile in less than 10s. Hamilton's Peter Goldsworthy, in a Chevroletdriven 1932 Ford Roadster, will be in the B class street hot rod contest. Other prominent contenders include Judy McLeod, in a 355 cu. in 5.8. C.-powered escort Van. Cliff Pilling, in a Z2B Camaro. and Frank Smith, in a 454 Chevrolet Holden Monaro. The New Zealand champion, Ray Peterson, of Auckland, will provide top-level competition in the drag motorcycle racing. Peterson's 970 cc fuel-in-jected. supercharged Honda is capable of travelling the quarter mile in about 8.55. Among the Christchurch contenders challenging Peterson will be Mark Lock, who with Bryan McCaw races a 900 cc supercharged Kawasaki. The former Earl Nunn-owned machine took first place in the 1980 .and 1981 New Zealand championships: The championships will be ■ conducted under New Zea- i land Hot Rod Association rules with elapsed time and I terminal speed recorded for i each run. The elapsed time clock is triggered when the vehicle leaves the start line and is stopped when the light beam at the finish is broken. The ’ terminal speed is computed from a "trap” using a start beam from 20m in front of the finish line and an end beam about 20m beyond it. The starting system for the quarter-mile (standing start) racing is known as a “Christmas Tree" because of its variously-coloured flashing lights. The "tree." about six metres down the strip from the starting line, has blue bulbs at .the top which light up when a car in each lane is in its correct staging position. Once both cars are properly staged the starter activates the amber countdown lights which flash at half-second intervals until the green, "go" light is reached.

Most drivers try to make their move between the last amber and the green and this can take a great deal of practice to perfect. If a vehicle moves too far before the green light comes on. a red light immediately below the green comes on, indicating a foul and an automatic “lose."

In simple terms a drag race is an acceleration contest between two vehicles racing from a standing start in a straight line. The winner of a class is found by a process of elimination whereby vehicles are paired off and race two al a time. The losers are eliminated from further competition in that categorywhile the winners advance to the next round and compete against another opponent until one remains unbeaten. He becomes the overall winner or “eliminator”.

Technique in staging and starting is one of the most important skills in the sport. Since many races are won or lost at the starting line, close observation and practice are needed.