Team Bray Racing is guaranteed to have at least one reason to celebrate at the Perth Motorplex’s 43rd Westernationals this weekend (February 28 - March 2), with Benny ‘The Kid’ Bray turning the ‘big 3-0’on Sunday.
The Queenslanders will head west this week for rounds 2 and 3 of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series Top Doorslammer chase, with Ben and his father Victor just two of 20 Top Doorslammers entered for the weekend’s festivities.
While birthday cake may be a given, the team will be looking to boost those celebrations with some strong results as they continue to come to grips with the new converter set-ups now found in both TBR Doorslammers.
“We still have a long way to go with the converter set-up, it is a complicated beast and there is so much more to it than just flipping a button to launch the car,” said Ben Bray, pilot of the Sidchrome Monaro Top Doorslammer.
“From the driver’s perspective there is a lot to adapt to when you implement a set-up like this – for instance there is no clutch pedal, how you put the car into reverse is completely different, how you stage the car has to change and so on, so there is a lot to come to grips with even before you are looking at getting good results.
“Discussions with other racers who have been down this path lead us to believe we will be looking at around 20 passes before we have it under control. I currently have nine full passes under my belt so we are certainly on our way.
“Given this, for us success this weekend might be more about making progress towards consistent passes and strong results than an event win, but that doesn’t mean we will be putting in anything less than 110% when we hit the track.”
The 43rd Westernationals will host not one but two rounds for the 2014 ANDRA Drag Racing Series Top Doorslammer championship, with both Saturday and Sunday to each host their own stand-alone championship points battles utilising the emerging three-round racing format.
“Perth is certainly a happy hunting ground for TBR, it is the place where I set the world speed record in 2003 which stood for five and a half years (245.23 miles per hour) and also where I broke through for my first ever ‘five second’ pass,” said six-time back-to-back Top Doorslammer champion Victor Bray, who steers the Sidchrome 1957 Chev Top Doorslammer.
“We will certainly be up against it this weekend as there is a heck of a lot for us to learn with the new converter set-up, and with Ben having nine full passes under his belt after the opening round in Perth plus some extra testing data, it will certainly be a case of the ‘master’ leaning on the ‘apprentice’ this weekend.”
The on-track Top Doorslammer action at the Westernationals will get underway from 5.30pm on Saturday 1 March and Sunday 2 March 2014.
Image courtesy Phil Luyer / High Octane Photos