John Zappia is in Sydney this week fired up and ready to take on stiff competition in Round 2 of the ANDRA Top Doorslammer Pro Series Championship at the Fuchs Nationals. The National Champ has rebuilt his Striker Monaro after a horrific accident in the Final of Round 1 at Willowbank, which captured the nation's interest on television.
But as the old saying goes "opportunity and crisis are on the same wind" and the Zappia Racing Team have responded to the crash with a stunning turnaround to have the same car ready to present for competition this weekend, and found new opportunities for improvement during the rebuild.
"I am pumped coming into this event", said Zap this week, "We have worked very hard not only to rebuild the Striker Monaro, but to improve it in so many areas that we would not normally attempt. Clyde Carstairs and I were able to redesign certain parts of the chassis, and do a very accurate dimension checks that found room for modifications".
"I think the improvements will make for a better race car, with better geometry and weight distribution. It might help with those huge wheel stands we have been doing lately".
"A big thanks to Santuff who supplied their latest design front struts and rear shocks just in time for the car to go back on its wheels. The rear wheels are the latest one piece design from Mickey Thompson that add strength and will contribute towards preventing wheel failures."
"All our sponsors and supporters have been right behind the rebuild, and the crew has been amazing with their efforts. We are proud to be representing Fuchs at their naming rights premier event this meeting. We are a winning team, and winning gives us all extra motivation to go the extra mile and work hard towards continuing the momentum".
Victory1 have joined the Zappia Racing Supporting Sponsor group, with supply of their titanium valves for the 3,500 horsepower Hemi V8. Combined with the new head work being completed by Noonan Race Engineering, Zap is still finding more horsepower from these blown alky monster engines.
"Our consistency is still our biggest asset in Top Doorslammer and we have the runs on the board for that. Every team has to find the combo that makes their car go quick, then hold that at a consistent level at different tracks and in different weather and track conditions. A crew Chief has to be able to select a 5.9 tune from the data, and go and run that exact number. There are no shortcuts to achieving this, and to have component reliability is the final piece of the puzzle".
"We are very confident we can do well in this event, and gain enough points in the Pro Series to contribute towards another Championship. Fans can be assured I will not be hanging back, and some exciting Top Doorslammer action can be assured at the track and on OneHD television".
Racing will begin on Friday 11th Sept were seventeen Top Doorslammer cars will complete their first qualifier at 7pm EST.
The teams will get an overnight break, and then complete qualifier two on Saturday at 2.30pm EST, a third qualifier at 5pm EST, and the final qualifier at 7.30pm EST.
Elimination racing starts on Sunday 13th with round one at 1.15pm EST, round two at 3pm EST, and the final at 5.13pm EST.
