John Zappia keeps a healthy lead in the 2008 ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship after a semi-final finish at the Chill Westernationals held at the Perth Motorplex last weekend. The meeting was Round 5 of the Championship, with two more events to run at Willowbank International Raceway – and Zap maintains a lead of 143 points over Brett Stevens.
In an eventful meeting for Zappia Racing, the Striker Monaro Top Doorslammer turned into a handful for local hero Zap to drive, as he turned up the power on the tuning side. First pass off the trailer on Saturday night qualifying was a wild ride over the centerline to record a 5.98 second pass at 236.80mph that sent the huge crowd cheering. Crossing the centerline is an automatic disqualification, so Zap was faced with two more chances to get into the field.
“We learnt a lot at the Summernationals in Sydney, and were keen to up the power on the car for this meeting” said Zap, “Four five second passes in a row is a great achievement, but we believe the car has a 5.8 in it – but each level of power requires delicate chassis tuning to get the car to run straight”.
Second pass turned the right tyre off the start line sending the car hard right off the line, putting the pressure on Zap to get the last pass right. The atmosphere was tense at the “Plex” as Zap and Phillips staged. Out of the blocks the Striker Monaro headed right again, but some excellent driving by Zap turned the car back into the groove without a pedal and charged through for a 6.028 second pass that just had the crowd wild - a gutsy tune and driving effort from John Zappia.
Overnight the TFX engine suffered some minor damage, and “Old Faithful” – the original 5 second Walt Austin Hemi with Whipple blower - was put in the car for eliminations. “We softened the tune up for the first round, as our car was struggling to put the power down on the track.”
First Elimination pass out was against legend Victor Bray in the 57 Chev, who had qualified 7th with a 6.182. Victor red lighted and went straight into shake and the 7.229 was no match for Zap’s pedaling 6.215et @ 233.16mph pass.
“Second round we knew we had to hot up the Walt, as Benny Bray was turning out some good low six second passes. I staged and the car headed right on the hit, so I pedaled three times to get the car to behave to no avail. I was able to turn the car away from the wall with some header sparks and track debris flying, and was still level with Benny when I accidentally hit top gear on the steering wheel way too early causing the car to bog slightly and slip through behind Benny’s 6.099 run.”
“The event was a stunner for Top Doorslammer, with a 6.184 bump spot, and some unpredictable performances from many - including ourselves, making the bracket exciting for the fans.”
The 90 points earned over the weekend topped up Zap’s lead to 518 points, with event winner Brett Stevens passing the non-qualifying Stanic into second place with 375 points.
“We are confident of our position in the championship, and look forward to some testing here at the “Plex” before heading to the Tin Tops, and Winternationals at Willowbank. I will now make the changes required to go to the next level with the car, and keep ahead of the competition.”
Zap's 5 second qualifying pass - crossing the centreline!
Zap's extraordinary 6.02 second pass to get in the field
