EARLY Monaros are a thing of great beauty,
especially when they run deep into the 10s
with tough, naturally aspirated small-block
Chevs riding up front.
“It’s my first Drag Challenge and I’ve been
planning it for about two years, trying to
get everything lined up with the car like the
rollcage and all the ANDRA stuff,” said Dylan
Murphy of his gorgeous HT Monaro when
we cornered him for a chat on Day One.
“It went 10.73 on the first pass and then
I got into it a bit and it went 10.66 at about
127mph. I’m happy with that, and we’ll aim
for that for the rest of the week. We might
have to do a couple of extra laps at each
track to go close to that, but we’ll see what
happens.”
The car happily ran in the 10s all week
and finished mid-pack in DYO. With Dylan’s
dad riding shotgun, nightly oil changes kept
mechanical issues at bay, and aside from the
engine throwing a belt and a slight niggle
with the transmission, it was plain sailing.
“There’s no other event like this,” says
Dylan. “It’s all about endurance. And to
be with so many tough cars from around
Australia is full-on.”
DYLAN
MURPHY
AFTER experiencing some headaches with the
supercharged small-block set-up he used to run,
Rod Lyall spied a pair of turbos for sale whilst
on holidays in Queensland. “I bought them,
brought them home and built the headers,”
he said. “We were living in a shed at the time
because we were building a house, so I was
running a TIG welder off a generator while the
kids were watching TV in the other half of the
shed. But it came up nice; it’s good when a plan
comes together.”
The plan came together very well indeed,
because despite the fact that the car was
largely untested prior to Drag Challenge, it
ran a 9.59@127mph on the very first day and
managed to complete the 1600-kilometre, five-
day torture test despite encountering all manner
of ungodly weather.
“It’s the same 383ci small-block Chev it ran
when it was ProCharged,” said Rod. “It just runs
a different camshaft, and the BorgWarner 66/80
turbos with Turbosmart wastegates. For an
untested car, it hooked up and ran really good.”
Running a blow-through carby set-up, Rod did
his racing on E85 and his commuting on regular
pump fuel, simply switching out the carby to
move from one fuel to the next. His only goal
was to successfully complete the event with no
blow-ups or meltdowns – mission successful!ROD LYALL
EARLY Monaros are a thing of great beauty,
especially when they run deep into the 10s
with tough, naturally aspirated small-block
Chevs riding up front.
“It’s my first Drag Challenge and I’ve been
planning it for about two years, trying to
get everything lined up with the car like the
rollcage and all the ANDRA stuff,” said Dylan
Murphy of his gorgeous HT Monaro when
we cornered him for a chat on Day One.
“It went 10.73 on the first pass and then
I got into it a bit and it went 10.66 at about
1 27mph. I’m happy with that, and we’ll aim
for that for the rest of the week. We might
have to do a couple of extra laps at each
track to go close to that, but we’ll see what
happens.”
The car happily ran in the 10s all week
and finished mid-pack in DYO. With Dylan’s
dad riding shotgun, nightly oil changes kept
mechanical issues at bay, and aside from the
engine throwing a belt and a slight niggle
with the transmission, it was plain sailing.
“There’s no other event like this,” says
Dylan. “It’s all about endurance. And to
be with so many tough cars from around
Australia is full-on.”
AFTER experiencing some headaches with the
supercharged small-block set-up he used to run,
Rod Lyall spied a pair of turbos for sale whilst
on holidays in Queensland. “I bought them,
brought them home and built the headers,”
he said. “We were living in a shed at the time
because we were building a house, so I was
running a TIG welder off a generator while the
kids were watching TV in the other half of the
shed. But it came up nice; it’s good when a plan
comes together.”
The plan came together very well indeed,
because despite the fact that the car was
largely untested prior to Drag Challenge, it
ran a 9.59@127mph on the very first day and
managed to complete the 1600-kilometre, five-
day torture test despite encountering all manner
of ungodly weather.
“It’s the same 383ci small-block Chev it ran
when it was ProCharged,” said Rod. “It just runs
a different camshaft, and the BorgWarner 66/80
turbos with Turbosmart wastegates. For an
untested car, it hooked up and ran really good.”
Running a blow-through carby set-up, Rod did
his racing on E85 and his commuting on regular
pump fuel, simply switching out the carby to
move from one fuel to the next. His only goal
was to successfully complete the event with no
blow-ups or meltdowns – mission successful!