Drag Racing General Drag Racing & Motorsport

What are the NHRA/ANDRA rules regarding how young a competitor can be to participate in drag racing at Gunnedah? It would be a hoot to invite those Junior Drag Bike riders to run at the next Gunnedah meeting. I know there's a rule about them not being allowing to run against anyone from a different class in the other lane, but DYO 1/8 mile shouldn't be too much of an issue given their not even running in a class. I know a few Junior Dragsters run at Gunnedah, but I don't think they are allowed to run against anyone else in the other lane (maybe another Junior Dragster).

 

A nice pic from recent Willowbank QDRC July 23rd meeting.



Compliments to the photographer (https://www.chezimages.com/).

 

Heathcote Park Raceway are running another Nostalgia meeting in October. Pre-1982 & there's a bike class.



https://tinyurl.com/5bzsjxbt






For more information on rules and categories click on the link below:

https://www.australiannostalgiaracers.org.au/

 

The Bend dragstrip is basically finished and ready to go. Looks awesome.

 

These two articles are a great read for anyone who remembers the other Australian drag racer called JIM READ (spelt REED for the Queenslander this story is about). I saw Jim and his wife and his son and his grandson and his daughter-in-law all race at some stage or another. A real Drag Racing Family dynasty if ever there was one. The rivalry between Steve Reed and Gary Phillips goes back a very long way. The stories I could tell...another time.

https://dragnews.com.au/the-life-of-gentleman-jim-reed-by-lex-swayn/
https://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/drag-racer-jim-reed

This is a great picture of Jim at the old SPIR strip before Keith Williams sold it. All looks good until you notice the coloured fluid exiting the engine...I'll give you a clue, it's not water!

 

Warwick Dragway upgrade to 1/4 mile finished and looks good. hopefully, they'll run both 1/8 and 1/4 mile events.

 

I'm going to do a Northern Drag Racing Safari one of these days and Warwick will be one of the tracks I'm going to visit and race at. Roma, Benaraby & Willowbank will also get a visit from me. Now, I just have to win the lottery so I can afford the diesel costs and I should be good to go!

 

Some Motorcycle Drag Racing from the Bend Dragway is South Australia.




And, some really fast old bloke on a Top Fuel Motorcycle. He spends a bit of time making sure the undercarriage is properly placed before staging the bike.

 

Sounds like the opening meeting of the revised Warwick Drag strip went really well. It was a VW event and there was plenty of variety. Hopefully, @Murdo got a chance to pop along.





https://www.dragphotos.com.au/f217590099

 

Some more pics from the Warwick Drag Racing VW Nationals...

https://tinyurl.com/mw4x49sa

Dune Buggy with wheelie bars!

 

Sunraysia Drag Racing Association recently ran their annual Junior Nationals at Mildura’s Sunset Strip.



Junior drag bike numbers were low, but it is good to see them at least making up the show. How much fun would this have been if this was around when some of us were kids?



Write up... https://dragnews.com.au/gallery-results-junior-nationals-sunset-strip/

 

Historic Road Racing this weekend.

 

A number of Junior Drag Bikes are racing at The Bend dragway in South Australia. Mildura (Victoria) is closer to Adelaide than to Melbourne, so I think the CBR250R rider is actually from Mildura.



The WSID track in Sydney has also let the Junior Drag Bikes race in their track championship.



The IHRA revised their JDB rules recently and they now allow all bikes up to 350cc to run in there fastest class. No 2-strokes or trail bikes, but they allow quick shifters and I even think I saw one for sale that had an Air Shifter!



This young man is selling his JDB. It has run 8.71 on the 1/8mile.

 

I went to the Ballarat Aerodrome today to do a few laps on the bike. The event was a ‘bike only’ show and was sponsored by Geelong Harley Davidson. Needless to say, there was a LOT of HD bikes on the property. A decent crowd and a few quick bikes; I ran into a few guys I used to see at Heathcote Park Raceway (HPR) before they stopped running their ‘Bike Mayhem’ events.




Rob Cassar was there with a Nostalgia Bike.



Plenty of fast and purpose-built (drag racing) HD bikes.





Kawasaki H2R was quick, but so was a Triumph Rocket that was running 7.0's



The last time I raced at a BDRC event was November 2018, so it has been a bit of a break. Not entirely my fault, as Covid and the Bike Insurance thing kept motorbikes away from the place. My best run in 2018 was a 9.65 @ 69.34 (on the Yellow/Black ZXR250) and today I managed a 9.13 @ 77.19 on my Lucky Strike ZXR250.

Today, I was running an aftermarket TCI unit from Ignitech. The change in ignition curve certainly helps. I have set the Rev Limiter to 18,000rpm, so I may increase that the next time I do a bit of testing/running.