Monthly Archives: May 2007

The Snap-On Nitro Champs (4^th and 5^th May 2007) is not a championship round for Top Doorslammer. Instead WSID ran an invitational “Chicago Shootout” style round robin. Only 10 Sydney cars were invited. Friday saw 3 rounds of qualifying and Saturday was the top 8 get two runs, the first is for seeding and the second is for racing and the fastest two in the second round go to the final. This was a good opportunity for testing for all the teams, and to have a little fun at the same time.

The 1st run I was paired up against Sean Misfud in the Willy’s. I haven’t done many paired runs, but I have run the Wild Willy’s every time but once. I spun the tyres from the startline for about 3.5 seconds, I backed off and eased back on and ran through with a 7.474 sec at 217mph. For an untidy run I was surprised to see my best speed to date. We had an oil leak during the run, the breathers on the rocker covers rattled loose.

Our 2^nd saw me pair up with Sean Misfud once again. For the first time ever the car did not misbehave and I managed to get to the finish line under full throttle light to light. It felt awesome. It turned out a 6.401 at 223mph, another new PB. I have dropped nearly .2 of a second off my previous best of 6.57. Again we had the same oil leak we needed to find a better solution. More silicone and a centre punch to keep the screws tight.

For the 3^rd run we went out hoping to capitalise on our last run, not all cars were out for this qualifier so we were given a solo pass other wise im sure id have raced wild willy again! The car went super straight and I ran another good number 6.425 at 220mph. We had a lot of positive comments from spectators and friends on how well the car went. At the end of the third qualify round we were sitting fourth on the top doorslammer qualifying board. I was very pleased with this result – fourth out of ten cars.

Saturday, we prepared the car early and our first run was 4pm. I was paired up against Mark Belleri in his Camaro. I thought the cat left like a rocket ship it shook the tyres hard I shifted into second still shook and I shifted into 3^rd and ran through to a 6.522 at 224mph. and another PB, fastest speed so far! I found lots of rubbish in the filter and it didn’t look promising. But I’d try and find and fix the problem. Unfortunately it had spun a bearing and nor did we have time or the parts to repair and we were OUT. We are spectators now.

Check out my runs on my media page: http://peterblake.rmwpublishing.net/media/

Congratulations to Mark Belleri for his stellar 6.13. It was an awesome run especially for a beginner, he has out shone himself as a driver. Also thanks again to my dedicated crew and especially my wife for doing her best even though she had an operation earlier that week.

Catch ya!
Peter Blake

The Summernationals 21 Top Doorslammer entries and only eight qualify. This is my debut Championship event. This is just another test for us.

Friday qualifying and our first run was at 4.30pm. We made some suspension changes from last week. We had something that worked and didn’t want to change but we had some unusual wear and were forced to, (a repair was un feasible in the given week).

The first qualify run was good and the car went straightish it was only my second time in a pairing. I was beside Peter Lovering I left him on the line and ran through with a 6.81 losing a blower belt a 1000ft. I figured Lovering had problems on the start line, but when I pulled the chutes he wizzed passed at a million mph it scared the crap out of me, I wasn’t ready for that. He ran 6.80 it felt really good to be in front for an entire run. If we had been racing, I’d have won!!!

A quick turnaround for the second qualifier. The team worked quickly but when we went to start it there was a problem. A cylinder full of fuel was hydraulicing on the starter we rushed to get it started. Everything was fine, but on the start line how ever we experienced the same problem against the car wouldn’t start and we missed out on that run. That was really disappointing but we had to find the problem.

We did a leak down, nothing we decided that without pulling apart the engine (as we wouldn’t have time before the final qualifier) we would just make sure we back the engine off in the staging lanes before we start the car.

The final qualifier. The car started first go, 21 doorslammers ran single passes (top fuel wasn’t ready yet) my burnout was a bit better then recent and I quickly got into stage (I didn’t have to wait for any one). Trying to launch with as much heat as possible in the tyres it must have worked 1.03 60ft was the 2nd or 3rd best for the session (not my best 60 though) my best half track saw 170 something mph and 4.3 I also pedalled just after shifting to 2nd gear (it wriggled just a little) after about 15 or so runs/part runs I’m proud to say I saw the shift light come on for top gear for the first time ever. a fuel leak sprouted at around 1000ft just before I hit the chutes but I cruised through to a 6.57sec at 216mph. Finally a good run, I saw the shift light, it went straight. I actually felt pretty comfortable in this run. It is the fastest and quickest I have gone so far. The team were pumped with this result! Even one photographer said to Dad it was an awesome launch. Dad was chuffed.

Great to finally get the monkey off our back. the thing has potential. We are still 200lb over weight and with a one to two tenths pedal that’s almost a great run.

We didn’t end up making the top eight, we actually came 16^th but we were really happy with result.

I want to thank my team for all there hard work and support (a special thanks to Gary & Peter), everything is starting to come together for us!!

I would also like to welcome our new sponsor TURN 4. And congratulations to our good friends Maz & Ben on their Wedding which I couldn’t make due to racing.

The Summernationals Test & Tune was predicted to be a massive testing day with over 200 cars. Leading up to the test we didn’t have high expectations we just wanted to work out why the car is not going straight and hopefully get some full passes down the track.

For the test day our entire crew was unavailable. The night before we had a mad scramble to find some one to help out. Gary Watterson who lives at the end of our street. (who is also building a drag car) and his mate Pete agreed to come to our aid, at 9pm Friday night. Same with Phil a friend of a friend of a friend who we had never met!!!

We arrived early (probably too early)at around 5:45am to ensure we get an easy park with the semi. and get a head start on all the work to be done including training our new crew.

First run,  smoked the tyres off the line.

Second run was a little better; we got off the line fairly easily but the car as usual went to the left.

Ed Urcis from JE Pistons, offered some suggestions to improve things, he was out on holidays but was keen to help.

We had 4 runs in total, the last two were a lot better but times were not competitive.

Our last run saw a 7.50 or something with a half track shut off and a pedal before 60ft. The half track equalled our best to date.

We think we have a better handle on our suspension, and have a fair bit of work to do before the Summernationals next week. Most satisfying result of the day was that our engine had no problems and didn’t need too much servicing.