Returning to the venue where he claimed last season’s Nitro Champs, Brisbane based Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Steve Ham will head to Sydney Dragway for this weekend’s Australian Nationals as a favourite.
“Coming back to Sydney, you can’t help but feel extra confidence because of how strong we ran in May. But the Top Alcohol guys are doing anything but standing still, so we have to be right on our game on and off the track,” he said.
Armed with new Noonan NRE x1 cylinder heads, the Mobil 1 team will make a priority of finding some elusive top end speed that they’ve lacked in previous outings.
“Our top end speed has really been our weak link for a few seasons now and after working closely with Jamie Noonan, we’re confident that we will step into new territory beyond our best of 258mph – that is pretty conservative compared to what other alcohol racers are getting,” a speculative Ham said.
Tuner for the Mobil 1 Funny Car James Rowland was determined to bite the bullet with the new technology before the rest of the field left them behind.
“The class has really moved forward in the past year, with 5.4 second runs happening on many occasions, and most teams being able to push 5.5 seconds. I think we will need to run 5.4 second passes more often than not to keep the round wins flowing,” he said.
This weekend marks the season opener for the hotly contested Top Alcohol category and the RD Williams team are determined to maintain the form that won them the Nitro Champs.
“This is our eleventh season in the sport, but it’s only in the last five years that we’ve really got serious, so we’re hoping to start reaping some rewards after a few years of learning the ropes with the odd triumph here and there. Consistency is the real aim for the whole team, and if we can keep that up, the wins will come I’m sure,” Ham said.
The ANDRA Drag Racing Series hits Sydney from Friday.