27 MAY 2011 - APSA Shootout Report

Sydney Shootout and Round 3 of the APSA (Australian Pro Street Association) Pro Street Series at Sydney Dragway is now over and it has been hailed as one of the best shootouts ever. We had very competitive racing and more wheel stands than ever before. We had V8 vs. Rotary grudge matches and a spectacular finale in the Mod Street Blown field in a Turbo vs. Nitrous War. Not to mention the Finals in other fields, racing was fierce. Another good thing to see was the Interstate racers that travelled from all over Australia to come and support the Sydney Shootout and they had an absolute ball. The track was on song and we had more PB’s than ever before, which made the event even more exciting for racers and fans…

All the Pro Street specialty fields were close to if not full, and we even had a 20 car Mod Street Blown field. The True Street cars were a fantastic show and racing was very close and exciting to watch. A couple of PB’s were realised by Joel Lane in a 3600 Premier running a 9.7 SBC, Grant Hughes 9.82, Janelle Scott with her street driven Little Red Hatchback Torana running a 9.95 and the most unusual car in the True Street field is the mad man, Con Pakos in the 700hp LSX in an L300 van, fully street registered and engineered. It ran a 10.3 and is now no 6 in Australia and no1 in NSW.

Another field that was very impressive, was DYO and even though a lot of these cars didn’t fall into the Pro Street Classes, they were still Tuff looking Street Style cars that put up a fantastic show. The whole event offered wheel stands, big skids and pro tree action, and the proof can be seen by the many YouTube Videos of the amazing runs at this shootout. We had racing veterans from big race teams there watching, along with track officials, and the feedback has been very positive. These people are amazed at how a group of home hobbyist and Pro Street Racers can go so fast and drive so well. Theses Pros couldn’t believe it and said it was some of the best action they had seen for years. APSA Pro Street racers are getting a bit of rep as being a mad bunch, and so we should, we are doing over 300kph plus in standard front end and suspension cars. Like I have said before that’s what happens when you pump 1200 to 2300 HP through a street configured car… Big action and Mayhem and we all love it.

There were so many high lights that I don’t where to start  - so I’ll begin from the ones that stand out and got the fans excited... At this meet we realised the potential of these new Turbo cars coming out to play. The Modified Street record has just been smashed again by Daniel Nunziante’s twin turbo Small block Ford Cortina running a blistering 7.19 at 201mph!!! Not to mention Turbo man Joe Gaucci also in a twin Turbo Ford, almost matching the MPH at 200 as well. I will officially state that Daniel’s car was the first car to run a 200mph pass in Mod Street in Australia, so congratulations mate that one stays with you forever.  We now have two Mod Street cars doing 200mph over the standing quarter, and no one could’ve ever thought it could be possible in a car with a standard chassis, front and rear suspension.. Crazy and a real credit to Australian Pro Street Racing. Also in the Mod Street field, Johnny Wilson had been fighting his 632 Cube Nitrous Injected Tori all day to go straight but all the thing wanted to do was wheel stand due to the enormous power. The engine has 600hp of nos pumping through it; it was even getting up the back wheels at mid track. We estimated that at that point of the run he is going about 130 MPH plus so that would be a 200 plus KPH wheel stand and he still came back down, pedalled it and run an 8.0. Crazy man!!! The final between Johnny Wilson and Joe Gaucci was absolutely spectacular and there was nothing in it, final result was a 7.39 to a 7.46, the nitrous car out launched and out sixtied the Turbo car and almost had the win, but the top end charge of the Turbo’s just managed the win. Joe took the win and won the MSB class for the day.  That run was one of the most intense and closest runs I have seen in Pro Street racing

In Mod Street Unblown field we have some amazing advances occurring. When Ali Saad from Melb in his BBC Capri, became the first man to run a 7 sec Mod Street Unblown pass and managed a 7.66, everyone thought he was untouchable and, for a while he was, but we now have three Mod Street Unblown cars running very close to him. Tony Cosulito’s BBC 588ci, Chev Capri has been the quiet achiever down there in Melb running a PB of a 7.70, then next up we have Mr Consistent Danny Sharbon, that has run a string of  7.8’s. Three Mod Street Capri’s doing it with no blower, no Nitrous or Turbo. Watching Ali and Danny in the final was amazing as these guys wrestled their beasts to get them down the track. Ali Saad stood the car up on its back wheels, higher than I have ever seen before and even though it slammed the front down hard, he stayed in it to catch Danny, but the car was too damaged and he finally had to abort with a buckled wheel and blown tyre. Crazy Racing… Danny won the final and it was another memorable run.

This shootout was also Testament to “you don’t have to have the fastest car to win at a shootout”. Both the Pro Street Blown and Unblown fields proved this. All of the Top runners being knocked out with gearbox and engine problems. Winner and runner up for Pro Street Blown were the two turbo Torana's of Jeremy Calahan and Bill Perkovski, both being gorgeously presented Turbo Small blocks. Jeremy took the win with a 7.77 to Perko’s 8.35. Great run. Also in the Unblown field we had Adam Smolders take on Mathew Bosanovic’s bottom 7 sec Capri. The slower car won with an 8.79. In this field Trick and Manswetto saw gearbox troubles early in the day but persisted and tried to get it fixed in time for the first round. They could’ve made it, but a qualifier was cut and time ran out so they came out to grudge match anyway. Their persistence paid off with an amazing new PB at the end of the night and upped the Australian record in this class to 7.03, oohh so close to a 6 sec pass. Truly amazing with no power adders. Rumour has it though that this engine is built for Nitrous, so look out Pro Street Blown this Nitrous monster will be a big contender in the Turbo vs. Nitrous war.

To finalise APSA would like to thank the awsome staff at Sydney Dragway for all there help.From APSA to Sydney Dragway and ANDRA Staff, what an amazing team you guys are. Thank you for all your hard work and assistance. Things seem to have really turned around at the track lately. Great to see.

Check out www.austprostassc.com.au for more info on the on the Australian Pro Street Association and head over to the Sydney Dragway Photo Gallery for a few pics from the Street Machine Nationals and APSA Shootout