Quick man John Zappia fronted the Perth Motorplex for the “USA Jets” National Open meeting with his Striker Top Doorslammer Monaro last weekend to compete in Top Comp, and took out the B Final trophy.
Racing on the weekend continued further clutch development, with qualifying passes in the afternoon of 6.544et @ 222.77mph and 6.218et @ 232.55mph with wheel spin off the line. The passes put Zap 7th in the qualifying list 0.202 under his index.
First elimination final was up against Darwin competitor Mathew Abel in his Hemi powered AA/G Capri. Zap took the win with a 6.141et @ 232.55mph against Abel’s red lighting 6.637et @ 202.70mph.
“We are getting closer with the clutch on this set up” said Zap, “But the data logger showed us that a cylinder was dead on that last run backing up from the burnout. We later found an exhaust rocker broken, and the engine had been running on seven cylinders at very high boost for the run.”
The next round competitor was Aaron Deery in the Top Alcohol dragster, which did not front due to damage. Rather than risk the engine, Zap staged the car for the B Final win.
“I had run the car on seven cylinders before after a lead was left off, and the crank ended up breaking in two and damaging the block, so I did not want a repeat of that. We were happy to collect the win and maintain top spot in the GT Radial Tyres Top Comp championship”.
Zappia Racing hired the track on the Sunday following the meeting, and carried out further testing on the clutch setup.
“Nothing to report really on the test day – we tried a few different combinations and gained some more data. We just need to sit down during the week and study the data and come up with a solution.”
“It’s good to be leading both the ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship, and the local Top Comp Championship – it’s a testimony to the support of all our sponsors, and the hard work the team are putting in.”
“We have one more local round here in Perth before we travel to the east coast for Round 4 of the Top Doorslammer Championship in Sydney. It’s a huge meeting for Western Australians with the Top Fuel Dragsters visiting from the east coast on 1st and 2nd Feb for a two day meeting.”
