AUSSIE TF BRACKETEER?
Wed, 2007-04-04 13:07
It was a long journey, but a worthwhile one as Jim Read Racing headed to the
Perth Motorplex last weekend for a Top Fuel showdown with local ace Alan Dobson
and Victorian newcomer Phil Lamattina that lived up to the Top Fuel 'Challenge'
event title in more ways than one!
The event was scaled back to a round-robin event, yet a still excellent crow d attended the world-class Perth Motorplex venue over two nights of Nitro madness.
It was an event of contrasts for team Read, as its chauffeur Phil Read on night one scorched down the quarter mile in the sort of consistent numbers that has seen the Auto One/Snap-on/Fuchs Lubricants missile streak to a dominant lead in the ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Championship pointscore. It was a long journey, but a worthwhile one as Jim Read Racing headed to the Perth Motorplex last weekend for a Top Fuel showdown with local ace Alan Dobson and Victorian newcomer Phil Lamattina that lived up to the Top Fuel 'Challenge' event title in more ways than one!
The event was scaled back to a round-robin event, yet a still excellent crow d attended the world-class Perth Motorplex venue over two nights of Nitro madness.
It was an event of contrasts for team Read, as its chauffeur Phil Read on night one scorched down the quarter mile in the sort of consistent numbers that has seen the Auto One/Snap-on/Fuchs Lubricants missile streak to a dominant lead in the ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Championship pointscore.
After running a low 4.6 second blast initially that was followed up by team Lamattina with similar numbers, Chief Wrench Rob Cavagnino (in the absence of co-crew chief Bruce Read) decided to turn up the wick and see what the 'black mamba' Top Fuel Dragster was capable of in the super Perth weather and track conditions.
A neck-snapping track record 4.582 pass at 324mph was the response as the world class consistency of this beast even amazes Crew Chief Cavagnino!
"This car behaves like a bracket car; we just seem to nail consistent numbers. We went a little more aggressively with things in that second session in terms of clutch timers and ignition advance and obviously it paid off nicely," remarked Cavagnino.
The final night of racing however at Perth Motorplex saw the team chase some different testing angles for the upcoming Snap-on Nitro Champs for Sydney in May and the end-result saw some difficulty in getting down the track.
"The track conditions were a little different and we chased a few different angles as well that seemed to find us in tyre shake pretty consistently," explained team owner Jim Read. "If it had turned out to be a full round of the championship we wouldn't have been so aggressive with our changes we made, but it was definitely a worthwhile exercise regardless."
With just two rounds of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship remaining, all looks set for a back-to-back Championship attack for the Jim Read Racing Top Fuel team!
Australian Top Fuel Championship Point Standings
1 Phillip Read NSW 475
2 Terry Sainty NSW 280
3 Steve Read QLD 200
4 Darren Morgan VIC 180
5 Bob Shepherd NSW 160
6 Alan Dobson WA 145
7 Scott Kalitta US 110
8 Luke Shepherd NSW 80
9 Roy Smith QLD 80
10 Phil Lamattina VIC 80
11 Dave Grubnic US 40
The event was scaled back to a round-robin event, yet a still excellent crow d attended the world-class Perth Motorplex venue over two nights of Nitro madness.
It was an event of contrasts for team Read, as its chauffeur Phil Read on night one scorched down the quarter mile in the sort of consistent numbers that has seen the Auto One/Snap-on/Fuchs Lubricants missile streak to a dominant lead in the ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Championship pointscore. It was a long journey, but a worthwhile one as Jim Read Racing headed to the Perth Motorplex last weekend for a Top Fuel showdown with local ace Alan Dobson and Victorian newcomer Phil Lamattina that lived up to the Top Fuel 'Challenge' event title in more ways than one!
The event was scaled back to a round-robin event, yet a still excellent crow d attended the world-class Perth Motorplex venue over two nights of Nitro madness.
It was an event of contrasts for team Read, as its chauffeur Phil Read on night one scorched down the quarter mile in the sort of consistent numbers that has seen the Auto One/Snap-on/Fuchs Lubricants missile streak to a dominant lead in the ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Championship pointscore.
After running a low 4.6 second blast initially that was followed up by team Lamattina with similar numbers, Chief Wrench Rob Cavagnino (in the absence of co-crew chief Bruce Read) decided to turn up the wick and see what the 'black mamba' Top Fuel Dragster was capable of in the super Perth weather and track conditions.
A neck-snapping track record 4.582 pass at 324mph was the response as the world class consistency of this beast even amazes Crew Chief Cavagnino!
"This car behaves like a bracket car; we just seem to nail consistent numbers. We went a little more aggressively with things in that second session in terms of clutch timers and ignition advance and obviously it paid off nicely," remarked Cavagnino.
The final night of racing however at Perth Motorplex saw the team chase some different testing angles for the upcoming Snap-on Nitro Champs for Sydney in May and the end-result saw some difficulty in getting down the track.
"The track conditions were a little different and we chased a few different angles as well that seemed to find us in tyre shake pretty consistently," explained team owner Jim Read. "If it had turned out to be a full round of the championship we wouldn't have been so aggressive with our changes we made, but it was definitely a worthwhile exercise regardless."
With just two rounds of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship remaining, all looks set for a back-to-back Championship attack for the Jim Read Racing Top Fuel team!
Australian Top Fuel Championship Point Standings
1 Phillip Read NSW 475
2 Terry Sainty NSW 280
3 Steve Read QLD 200
4 Darren Morgan VIC 180
5 Bob Shepherd NSW 160
6 Alan Dobson WA 145
7 Scott Kalitta US 110
8 Luke Shepherd NSW 80
9 Roy Smith QLD 80
10 Phil Lamattina VIC 80
11 Dave Grubnic US 40
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