Kenny Stewart is hoping the Fuchs Winternationals will be a successful final swan song for his current Fuchs Modified Dragster before he unleashes a new 260-inch top dragster on the Sunset Strip in Mildura this spring.
Twelve months ago Stewart purchased a TRE engine capable of making approximately 250 horsepower more than his previous engine.
Unfortunately the wheel base of his current car is too short to run the engine at its full potential so whenever he tries to launch at 4800 rpm, the car tends to go into wheel stands, great for the photographers and the crowd but not as consistent as he’d like it to be.
“Instead of trying to modify the chassis we decided to purchase a new chassis,” explains Stewart.
“We did a lot of looking around at different chassis builders in the US and finally decided to go with Spitzer.
“The new car is a 260-inch top dragster with an all carbon body and interior. This should make the car 150-200 pounds lighter than my current chassis.”
The car is also equipped with the latest MSD grid ignition; race pack dash and data logger, K&R Pro-cube delay box and most importantly it will have a wheelie bar. The car also has six slip joints to allow the car to be tuned to varying track conditions.
“We are going to run the car in Modified but may look at stepping up into CC Dragster as I have had a blower for a couple of years just sitting in the shed.
“It should land in Australia early July and hopefully will have the running gear from my current car transferred in time for the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship round in Mildura.
“I think with a little testing and tuning, I am hoping I will get into the 6.90s to 7.0s and still be consistent.
“And on a positive note my current car will be staying in Victoria which will help boost the Modified numbers locally. I will be sad to see the car go, as it has been a fantastic car over the last 14 years and can only hope the new one will be just as good and competitive.
Beginning tomorrow, Stewart’s attention turns to the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway and making amends for a difficult X-Champs campaign.
“Leading up to the X-Champs, we had problems with the car flat spotting at the hit of the throttle and also had a head gasket problem,” he said.
“The car ran beautiful during qualifying and going into first round I didn’t feel we had any real problems, but when I went to stage, I brought on both stage lights and as soon as the top bulb came on, I let the trans-brake button go and pressed the accelerator to the floor but the car died.
“I managed to get it started and had a reaction time of 8.9 seconds (laughs), so off I went in hot pursuit praying that Fiona (Reed) would run out of fuel, but no luck on that deal. Just goes to prove eight-second reactions don’t cut it in Modified!”
The Fuchs Winternationals begins tomorrow and continues across the Queen’s Birthday long weekend (Thursday 5 June to Sunday 8 June 2014), with 430 racers from all across the country and New Zealand to compete in front of approximately 30,000 spectators across the four days.
For full information, please visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au or click here.