WITH a best pass of 8.14@171mph and a cumulative elapsed
time of 30.025 seconds, Mark Drew finished just three-and-
a-bit tenths shy of fellow turbocharged LS-powered Torana
driver Quentin Feast. That put Drewy in second place in both
the Outright and Haltech Radial Blown stakes – one better than
his third-place finish in 2016.
Pre-event testing set Mark backwards a couple steps when
a high-speed crash at Calder Park just two weeks before Drag
Challenge had Drewy and his mates thrashing on the spanners
just to get the ‘Crusty’ Torana ready for the trip over to Adelaide.
They obviously did a cracker of a job because Day One saw
Drewy handling the insane track temps better than anyone
and the Torana left Adelaide in number one spot with an
[email protected]. After Day Two Mark was only a couple
hundredths behind Quentin, with a firm grip on second place.
“It’s been going along not too bad,” said Drewy when we
bumped into him on Day Three in the lanes at Swan Hill. “We’ve
had a few little dramas with fuel, but that’s just because of the
heat. It went 8.20 this morning and we’ve taken all the power
out of it out of the hole, then we’re just feeding it in. I’m hoping
to finish, that’s the main thing. If we’re up there, we’re up there
- I’m in it for me, not to be a celebrity.”
From then on the Torana threw a couple of curveballs at
Drewy, including a charging issue that he was forced to
diagnose and repair in the dead of the night and the pissing
rain at Ararat, en route to Portland. Then coming into Adelaide
on Day Five, a front brake caliper came loose.
“It locked a wheel up at 110km/h with the trailer on,” said
Mark. “I found a nut and bolt and made it work for the 100km
drive into Adelaide, but coming down the hills with bugger-all
brakes was a challenge.”
Other than those obstacles, the biggest challenge Mark faced
was cabin temperatures of 58 degrees in the early stages
of the week. The twin-turbo 427ci LS-based engine runs a
water-to-air intercooler, which transfers huge amounts of heat
into the cabin during the transport stages when it’s not filled
with iced water.
“The event was pretty hard going. The heat killed us, and then
the rain – it was like four seasons in one week. But that’s what
it’s all about; it’s all part of the challenge and if you can’t cut
it, you can’t cut it. We’ll do it again next year, and we’ll throw
some more power at it.”
MARK DREW
WITH a best pass of 8.14@171mph and a cumulative elapsed
time of 30.025 seconds, Mark Drew finished just three-and-
a-bit tenths shy of fellow turbocharged LS-powered Torana
driver Quentin Feast. That put Drewy in second place in both
the Outright and Haltech Radial Blown stakes – one better than
his third-place finish in 2016.
Pre-event testing set Mark backwards a couple steps when
a high-speed crash at Calder Park just two weeks before Drag
Challenge had Drewy and his mates thrashing on the spanners
just to get the ‘Crusty’ Torana ready for the trip over to Adelaide.
They obviously did a cracker of a job because Day One saw
Drewy handling the insane track temps better than anyone
and the Torana left Adelaide in number one spot with an
[email protected]. After Day Two Mark was only a couple
hundredths behind Quentin, with a firm grip on second place.
“It’s been going along not too bad,” said Drewy when we
bumped into him on Day Three in the lanes at Swan Hill. “We’ve
had a few little dramas with fuel, but that’s just because of the
heat. It went 8.20 this morning and we’ve taken all the power
out of it out of the hole, then we’re just feeding it in. I’m hoping
to finish, that’s the main thing. If we’re up there, we’re up there
- I’m in it for me, not to be a celebrity.”
From then on the Torana threw a couple of curveballs at
Drewy, including a charging issue that he was forced to
diagnose and repair in the dead of the night and the pissing
rain at Ararat, en route to Portland. Then coming into Adelaide
on Day Five, a front brake caliper came loose.
“It locked a wheel up at 110km/h with the trailer on,” said
Mark. “I found a nut and bolt and made it work for the 100km
drive into Adelaide, but coming down the hills with bugger-all
brakes was a challenge.”
Other than those obstacles, the biggest challenge Mark faced
was cabin temperatures of 58 degrees in the early stages
of the week. The twin-turbo 427ci LS-based engine runs a
water-to-air intercooler, which transfers huge amounts of heat
into the cabin during the transport stages when it’s not filled
with iced water.
“The event was pretty hard going. The heat killed us, and then
the rain – it was like four seasons in one week. But that’s what
it’s all about; it’s all part of the challenge and if you can’t cut
it, you can’t cut it. We’ll do it again next year, and we’ll throw
some more power at it.”