<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/Zappia.jpg" alt="Zappia" align="left"borders="0"/>
2nd April 2007 - John Zappia silenced all skeptics at the Perth Motorplex yesterday, when the Striker Top Doorslammer Monaro fronted for a local meeting with their new Striker engine combination, and promptly ran a five second pass after a test run, and first full pass of 6.057. The TFX block, with the latest Randy Anderson heads (never raced in Australia), and a brand new PSI blower is John Zappia's first ever brand new engine - after over 20 years of drag racing.
"Thanks to Striker Crushing and Screening, we were able to custom order all brand new parts to put this combination together. It's a dream come true for us local sportsman racers, who have always had to purchase hand-me-down second hand engines and blowers from the US." said a jubilant Zap last night. “People think we made a strategic decision to run with the Whipple blower, but it was nothing more than a budget decision for us at the time, and to have achieved all our world records with second hand gear highlights the depth of knowledge we have in our team. The PSI gives us weight advantages, and it appears to make more power and torque than the Whipple".
Observers were commenting that Zap will take months and dozens of laps to sort out the awesome performance of the PSI equipped BAE - after all, most of his Australian Top Doorslammer competitors have had years to sort out their PSI combinations and still struggle with their tune ups. But after a shake down pass to gain some data, the team set Zap's Rat up for it's first full pass and rattled off a dead straight 6.057et @ 234.37mph. "It was fat and lazy, but showed us the real potential of the combo" said Zap.
With the first full pass under their belt, the team turned the car around for the next qualifier, and had the local crowd on their feet cheering with a 5.991et @ 235.60mph pass. "We ran a 3.929et 660ft time, which is pretty impressive. We will work on the data and some more tuning to get the mph back up again, and we are confident we can reclaim the World's Quickest Doorslammer record back off the Yanks."
"We hurt a couple of pistons during the 5.991 pass and had the usual thrash to get the car ready for another pass late in the night." Unfortunately, after Zap's burn out the crew noticed oil on the track and quickly shut Zap down. "After an investigation back in the pits we noticed a loose oil line had caused the oil leak. We are now looking forward to the next local meeting where we can fine tune the combination even further."
Zappia Racing earnt valuable dollars from Striker Crushing Managing Directors Chris Lane and Craig Pedley, who handed over $5,000 as part of a performance bonus. "Every time the team runs a five, we hand over a cheque for $5,000 as an incentive." said Chris Lane, "We are very proud of Zap and his team with their achievements so far, and we may extend and ramp up our Motorsport program with the team in the future.." Craig was relieved that the team didn’t make the last pass as it would have cost Striker Crushing another $5000, especially as the air was at it's best of the weekend.
Zappia Racing will carry out further testing and racing on April 14th at the Perth Motorplex, before heading to Queensland for Round 6 of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship "Tin Tops" event on 28th April. John Zappia is second in the championship point’s table, behind veteran Garry Phillips, and is counting on a strong performance at the event.
For more photos go to Zap's Rat - Australia's Quickest Doorslammer. 5.922et. STRIKER Monaro Top Doorslammer
5.991 from new Striker Engine Combo
2nd April 2007 - John Zappia silenced all skeptics at the Perth Motorplex yesterday, when the Striker Top Doorslammer Monaro fronted for a local meeting with their new Striker engine combination, and promptly ran a five second pass after a test run, and first full pass of 6.057. The TFX block, with the latest Randy Anderson heads (never raced in Australia), and a brand new PSI blower is John Zappia's first ever brand new engine - after over 20 years of drag racing.
"Thanks to Striker Crushing and Screening, we were able to custom order all brand new parts to put this combination together. It's a dream come true for us local sportsman racers, who have always had to purchase hand-me-down second hand engines and blowers from the US." said a jubilant Zap last night. “People think we made a strategic decision to run with the Whipple blower, but it was nothing more than a budget decision for us at the time, and to have achieved all our world records with second hand gear highlights the depth of knowledge we have in our team. The PSI gives us weight advantages, and it appears to make more power and torque than the Whipple".
Observers were commenting that Zap will take months and dozens of laps to sort out the awesome performance of the PSI equipped BAE - after all, most of his Australian Top Doorslammer competitors have had years to sort out their PSI combinations and still struggle with their tune ups. But after a shake down pass to gain some data, the team set Zap's Rat up for it's first full pass and rattled off a dead straight 6.057et @ 234.37mph. "It was fat and lazy, but showed us the real potential of the combo" said Zap.
With the first full pass under their belt, the team turned the car around for the next qualifier, and had the local crowd on their feet cheering with a 5.991et @ 235.60mph pass. "We ran a 3.929et 660ft time, which is pretty impressive. We will work on the data and some more tuning to get the mph back up again, and we are confident we can reclaim the World's Quickest Doorslammer record back off the Yanks."
"We hurt a couple of pistons during the 5.991 pass and had the usual thrash to get the car ready for another pass late in the night." Unfortunately, after Zap's burn out the crew noticed oil on the track and quickly shut Zap down. "After an investigation back in the pits we noticed a loose oil line had caused the oil leak. We are now looking forward to the next local meeting where we can fine tune the combination even further."
Zappia Racing earnt valuable dollars from Striker Crushing Managing Directors Chris Lane and Craig Pedley, who handed over $5,000 as part of a performance bonus. "Every time the team runs a five, we hand over a cheque for $5,000 as an incentive." said Chris Lane, "We are very proud of Zap and his team with their achievements so far, and we may extend and ramp up our Motorsport program with the team in the future.." Craig was relieved that the team didn’t make the last pass as it would have cost Striker Crushing another $5000, especially as the air was at it's best of the weekend.
Zappia Racing will carry out further testing and racing on April 14th at the Perth Motorplex, before heading to Queensland for Round 6 of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship "Tin Tops" event on 28th April. John Zappia is second in the championship point’s table, behind veteran Garry Phillips, and is counting on a strong performance at the event.
For more photos go to Zap's Rat - Australia's Quickest Doorslammer. 5.922et. STRIKER Monaro Top Doorslammer
