2006/2007 Sport Compact Group Drag Racing Series

TOYO TYRES SUMMER SLAM

 

The Sport Compact Group headed to Victoria for the first time for the inaugural Toyo Tyres Summer Slam. The Summer Slam was round two of the Sport Compact Group Drag Racing Championship Series, with many competitors from Round 1 (The Fast Fours Jamboree at Willowbank Raceway) making the journey to accumulate points in the five round series.  The venue chosen was country Victoria’s Heathcote Park Raceway, located approximately 12km from Bendigo, and around an hour and a half from Melbourne. There were a number of workshops and competitors that traveled to support the event. Bill Nabhan and the Mazsport/Queen St racing team were well represented with the awesome quad-rotor BMW eventually recording the quickest pass of the day with a sliding 7.87 at 183mph, with Bill doing a great job to keep the wild BMW in a straight line. Bill also had his hands full with Craig Wasson’s “MR 12A” competing in Street 289. Bill was ahead of a tough field and also ran the quickest pass in the class with an 8.67 at 159mph from the little 12A powerplant. Gas Motorsports and RotorMaster also made the journey from Sydney. The 2JZ-powered Camry piloted by Joe Signorelli struggled for traction all day, but still put on a good show for the fans. Po Tung was also waving the RotorMaster flag in his tough triple turbo triple rotor RX-7 although clutch issues caused him a few problems on the day. The wild little Lalor Towing sponsored Mazda 1300 wagon of Peter Donchos performed some awesome smoky burnouts and was launching hard on each pass; Donchos was runner up with an 8.46 at 153mph against the quicker Nabhan in the Pro final.

Street 289 was also well supported with Damien McKern and his GRUMP2 RX-2 making the journey down from Queensland, although Damien was one of many who struggled for traction on the windy, dusty day. Wayne Dyson has been racing at Heathcote for longer than many of his fellow racers have been alive, and it was good to see him back in his legendary RX-3 coupe with a strong 8.75 at a backing off 135mph pass. Rodney Spannenberg showed that consistency is the key, after backing the power down in his RX Engineering prepped 7SINS RX-7 Rodney cruised through eliminations to take the win in the Street 289 final with consistent low tens all day. RX Engineering proprietor Jon Blanch also got into the fun with his “rental special” Subaru running consistently all weekend and almost making the final in Street AWD.

Adelaide has seen limited opportunity for racing recently, so it was great to see a few South Australians tow across to compete and get their quarter mile fix. Jason Unkovich’s yellow REVS late model RX-7 put in some tough passes with a 10.78 at 130mph best. Mark’s clean RX3SUM RX-3 also put on a good smokey show for the crowd and went 11.3 in full street trim. Scott’s 20B Cosmo also surprised a few people with a stout 10.81 second pass, not bad for a heavy luxury coupe!

The Rajab Racing Calais almost epitomises the turbo drag racing scene in Victoria and with Ben Viceconte put in a great effort with a best of 8.53 at 159mph.

The “Old School” VW which started the whole Jamboree scene was represented by Wayne Penrose and his very tough, almost sleeper like Orange VW which ran an amazing 10.49 at 131mph pass! Certainly a shock to a few people! Dave Homer was also flying the 4-cylinder flag with his Toyo Tyres sponsored Suzuki Swift running mid elevens at 130+ mph. Fellow FWD racer Chris Tait (also from Queensland) was having fun in “Mum’s taxi” the little blue Holden Astra. Chris went 11.6 at 127mph.

The Bikes have made a welcome addition to the racing and it was good to see the Azzopardi racing team bring out the “Quicksilver” Hayabusa for a few runs. Although taking a smooth approach off the line Leonard did a great job to run 8.17 at over 170mph. Pretty brave stuff on two wheels (or one at times!). Greg Watter was another of the turbocharged two wheelers competing, dipping into the 8-second zone at over 160mph.

The Show-N-Shine area saw a small range of interesting vehicles represented, with a few fighting a losing battle with the dust and the wind on the day. Ben Winstone’s immaculate DAT13B 1972 Datsun 1200 coupe took out top honours, with Remo Cesario taking out the runner up position with his 1994 Mazda RX-7. A good mix of old school and new school. For all the Toyo Tyres Summer Slam Results click HERE.

“I want to express our thanks to all the competitors who traveled to Victoria for the Toyo Tyres Summer Slam and of course our sponsors for helping us to stage our first Victorian event” said Sport Compact Group promoter Ray Box.

The next round of the series sees a return to Willowbank Raceway for an action packed one-day event, Toyo Tyres Mini-Jam, on March 31, 2007. For all the details chick HERE.