<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/vic_ben.jpg" alt="vic_ben" align="left"borders="0"/>
The 2008 Summernationals will go down in history as one of Australia's best ever Drag racing events. Drag racing can be a strange and cruel sport and weeks of work can be undone in a split second. Weather conditions before and during an event pretty much dictate the available track conditions for the event. The continued excellent track prep by WSID staff combined with the favourable weather gave the racers' fantastic conditions. It's a sport where minor engine damage or a setup miscalculation in qualifying can devastate a racers' weekend . For Victor Bray and his Castrol Edge 1957 Chev, the fourth round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship, the Summer Nationals at WSID, proved to be a very strange and cruel weekend indeed.
Ben's Castrol Edge Monaro, running a new combination for this meeting, made several 6.0 passes over the weekend but wasn't able to find the sweet spot to join the 5 second club on a weekend where the track proved a great hunting ground to do so. Despite hard work by the crew and some deep thinking by Victor, Ben was defeated by eventual winner Maurice Fabbietti in the semi final. Ben qualified well in the ARMOR All funny car but again wasn't able to capitalize on the conditions on the night. Victor's Chev had a small mechanical problem which denied a full pass in round #1 of qualifying only to suffer another unrelated mechanical failure in qualifier #2 which counted the Castrol Edge 57 out for the remainder of the weekend.. The Crew worked very hard but here unable to get Victor's car out for session 3 and the rest is history.
Much of Team Bray's focus has gone into getting its new set up combination working in both cars but, as yet, Victor and Ben have not unlocked the secret to to joining the 5 second club. There was some apprehension going into the Summer Nationals after deciding to make some major set up changes that had not been fully tested.
"We're still trying to get on top of this new combination," Victor shrugged. The team's virtual weekly commitments with street machine and car shows, including the Powercruise the previous week end in Tasmania have limited time for testing so we went into the Summer Nationals hoping to crack into the meeting. Although time won't allow any testing before the Wester Nationals several test days have been booked soon after for the team.
"There are a lot technicalities associated with combinations in these cars and normally you wouldn't consider jumping the gun on something as technical without having it sorted out.
"We've been caught out again, this was the biggest week end in Top Doorslammer history and I was not part of it" said a disappointed Victor, "but I can assure you we'll be working hard to make sure that doesn't happen again. The upside is I was able to be a spectator at the fastest Doorslammer race in Australian history all be it at the expense of being a part of it.
In drag racing, anyone can go fast on any one day, but if you want to win a championship you have to able to drag your combination over a wide variety of weather and track conditions and that's what we're having trouble doing at the moment. Ben has gone 6.03 and I've put down a 6.01 in my car but it's consistency that's lacking at the moment, not racing or driving skills."
The two dominant guys this season -John Zappia and Steve Stanic - are running very well. If some cards do fall his way and the Team can get on top of the new combinations Benny is still in with a shot a the title in third place, but it is slim.
The next round of the season is only 2 weeks away in Perth, with bonus points up for grabs again, this will be the last chance to stop the Zap. The problem for Team Bray is that we will have no chance to test before Perth but Victor and Ben go west with a positive outlook and more data from the Summer Nationals to hopefully give some direction for better performances in the west.
"We are confident that our new direction is the way to go but if you want to be a pioneer you have to be prepared to get lost in the woods sometimes," Victor laughed. "I have an idea of what I think is going wrong and we'll look into that. We know we can make our cars go fast but at the moment we can't do it at call. But we didn't get where we are by being slack so we'll be working hard and we'll get to the bottom of this combination."
"Mr 5 sec club members John Zappia (foundation member) and Aaron Lynch picked up 2 more members and almost a third on the week end, Deno Brijeski layed down a 5.95 on Friday night and then backed it up with a 5.99 in his 1st Round on Saturday, the other driver to sign up was Kath Stevens with a 5.96 pass on an exhibition pass. Maurice fabetti was the other that came o so close after he overcame years of Championship frustration claiming his first ever ANDRA gold Christmas tree with a stunning hole shot 6.000 win from John Zappia's 5.958 in the Final. Victor and Ben along with all Team Bray members want to congratulate Deno, Kath and Maurice for reaching long sought goals over the weekend".
TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR TEAM BRAY
The 2008 Summernationals will go down in history as one of Australia's best ever Drag racing events. Drag racing can be a strange and cruel sport and weeks of work can be undone in a split second. Weather conditions before and during an event pretty much dictate the available track conditions for the event. The continued excellent track prep by WSID staff combined with the favourable weather gave the racers' fantastic conditions. It's a sport where minor engine damage or a setup miscalculation in qualifying can devastate a racers' weekend . For Victor Bray and his Castrol Edge 1957 Chev, the fourth round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship, the Summer Nationals at WSID, proved to be a very strange and cruel weekend indeed.
Ben's Castrol Edge Monaro, running a new combination for this meeting, made several 6.0 passes over the weekend but wasn't able to find the sweet spot to join the 5 second club on a weekend where the track proved a great hunting ground to do so. Despite hard work by the crew and some deep thinking by Victor, Ben was defeated by eventual winner Maurice Fabbietti in the semi final. Ben qualified well in the ARMOR All funny car but again wasn't able to capitalize on the conditions on the night. Victor's Chev had a small mechanical problem which denied a full pass in round #1 of qualifying only to suffer another unrelated mechanical failure in qualifier #2 which counted the Castrol Edge 57 out for the remainder of the weekend.. The Crew worked very hard but here unable to get Victor's car out for session 3 and the rest is history.
Much of Team Bray's focus has gone into getting its new set up combination working in both cars but, as yet, Victor and Ben have not unlocked the secret to to joining the 5 second club. There was some apprehension going into the Summer Nationals after deciding to make some major set up changes that had not been fully tested.
"We're still trying to get on top of this new combination," Victor shrugged. The team's virtual weekly commitments with street machine and car shows, including the Powercruise the previous week end in Tasmania have limited time for testing so we went into the Summer Nationals hoping to crack into the meeting. Although time won't allow any testing before the Wester Nationals several test days have been booked soon after for the team.
"There are a lot technicalities associated with combinations in these cars and normally you wouldn't consider jumping the gun on something as technical without having it sorted out.
"We've been caught out again, this was the biggest week end in Top Doorslammer history and I was not part of it" said a disappointed Victor, "but I can assure you we'll be working hard to make sure that doesn't happen again. The upside is I was able to be a spectator at the fastest Doorslammer race in Australian history all be it at the expense of being a part of it.
In drag racing, anyone can go fast on any one day, but if you want to win a championship you have to able to drag your combination over a wide variety of weather and track conditions and that's what we're having trouble doing at the moment. Ben has gone 6.03 and I've put down a 6.01 in my car but it's consistency that's lacking at the moment, not racing or driving skills."
The two dominant guys this season -John Zappia and Steve Stanic - are running very well. If some cards do fall his way and the Team can get on top of the new combinations Benny is still in with a shot a the title in third place, but it is slim.
The next round of the season is only 2 weeks away in Perth, with bonus points up for grabs again, this will be the last chance to stop the Zap. The problem for Team Bray is that we will have no chance to test before Perth but Victor and Ben go west with a positive outlook and more data from the Summer Nationals to hopefully give some direction for better performances in the west.
"We are confident that our new direction is the way to go but if you want to be a pioneer you have to be prepared to get lost in the woods sometimes," Victor laughed. "I have an idea of what I think is going wrong and we'll look into that. We know we can make our cars go fast but at the moment we can't do it at call. But we didn't get where we are by being slack so we'll be working hard and we'll get to the bottom of this combination."
"Mr 5 sec club members John Zappia (foundation member) and Aaron Lynch picked up 2 more members and almost a third on the week end, Deno Brijeski layed down a 5.95 on Friday night and then backed it up with a 5.99 in his 1st Round on Saturday, the other driver to sign up was Kath Stevens with a 5.96 pass on an exhibition pass. Maurice fabetti was the other that came o so close after he overcame years of Championship frustration claiming his first ever ANDRA gold Christmas tree with a stunning hole shot 6.000 win from John Zappia's 5.958 in the Final. Victor and Ben along with all Team Bray members want to congratulate Deno, Kath and Maurice for reaching long sought goals over the weekend".
