John Zappia kicks off his campaign for an unprecedented seventh successive Australian Top Doorslammer championship this weekend.
The ANDRA Drag Racing Series returns to Zap’s home track of Perth Motorplex for the Pro Showdown and the opening salvo of both the Top Doorslammer and Top Alcohol crown for 2014.
Zappia said he is looking forward to the start of the season and seeing race fans come out in force to watch 19 Doorslammers put through their paces. And he’s expecting some stiff competition.
“Peter Kapiris is still going to be a threat but any of the others can stand up at any time,” he said. “They are all capable of running the numbers; it’s only whether they stumble on their consistency.”
“Some teams are going to automatic transmissions, if that works it gives them a reaction time advantage. Stuart Bishop has got one and he’s running 5.80s and low 5.90s.”
“If they can get that working right they’ve got the reaction advantage. They’re only dropping a button instead of a clutch.”
“You just can’t discount anybody. We’ve got to worry about ourselves and get the car going strong.”
The six time national champion has finished preparations and is confident they have put in the work behind the scenes to limit any negative forces during their title tilt.
At the back end of last year once the championship rounds were over, Zappia and his crew entered the local Perth events and learned a valuable lesson when the spindle broke off the rear diff and the wheel came adrift of the rear end.
“The only thing that saved a serious crash was the quarter panel held the tyre in. Had the fibreglass let go the tyre and axel would have been gone and I would have been on three wheels at 250mph.”
At the same time a number of parts began to show their wear and tear.
“All this stuff opened our eyes to say hey, all these parts have got to be replaced and we’ve got to have extra spares. We could have been caught out had that happened through the championship rounds.”
With the inventory freshened up and a slightly new look beginning at the Pro Showdown; you can expect Zap to turn it on in the Fuchs Striker Monaro this Friday and Saturday.
For more information on the Pro Showdown please visit www.motorplex.com.au for details.
Image courtesy Phil Luyer/High Octane Photos