What an eventful weekend, we have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse, back to the outhouse, then back to the penthouse again, overall it was a pretty good result.  When you consider that there were only two qualifiers with the rain and all the other assorted troubles like trying to get the tune up right in the hot steamy conditions, we were lucky to get to the final at all.   

I have always said “you need a bit of luck”.  We had luck in the first round, with Bill Fletcher's red light, a good race against Townsville's Darren Piddington in the second round & then the good fortune of  the first ever bye to the final I think we have ever had, someone might correct me with that. 

Unfortunately a double red light final, but congratulations to Paul Cannuli & all the Crossroads Racing (Intersection) team.  The truck  & trailer made it down and back without breaking down, can’t say the same for the black truck it certainly didn’t want to leave home and showed us accordingly.

Some highs and lows of the weekend included, our team member and modified bike racer Allan Croft helping Lachlan Tree (brackateer) drive the Black Mariah  Mitsubishi Mobile  home to Brisbane like any family member that is leaving home the black Mariah  was not happy with the decision to leave it with Warren and  Katherine Sichter who are importing a dragster trailer from Americia for Adam Croaker Western Australian AA Dragster driver he has purchased the Black Mariah  to tow his new trailer back to Western Australia and we hope it will be as good a truck for him as it has been over the years for ourselves. 

Unfortunatley at 1.30am after the meeting before Nathan could even have a celebration drink we recieved a phone call he had some fuel filter problems with some dirty fuel so by the time Nathan, Macca and I got back to the track it was around 4.00am after changing the fuel filters, cracking injector lines and getting them on their way again "just one of those things".  We finally got to celebrate Nathan's win in Rockhampton at around 8.00pm when we got home Sunday night.  Can I say it's not much fun driving from Rockhampton to Brisbane for a drag race meeting when its raining constantly and getting worse the closer we get to the track. 

With Friday rained out we were hoping for a fine day Saturday, and luck was with us when Saturday came without a drop of rain, luck was with Willowbank for those who are not aware its a non profit organisation with a lot of volunteers and to loose that meeting would of been a financial disaster for the track they had a bumper crowd, who saw 5 top fuel runs in the day and it was a great show with most of the crowd staying for the last run.  Which was a exhibition top fuel run with Phil Lamatina and Brisbane 's Pommy Steve Read.  I was talking to Phil Lammatina in the braking area and having a close look at his brand new dragster, he was saying that they were very happy with their performances for the first meeting in the new car. 

We have made a lot of changes in the off season, it has been four months since Nathan has had a drive and probably was a little bit rusty.  With only 2 qualifing runs it made things a bit difficult along with a few car troubles.  But we look forward to Western Sydney and with a bit of luck Perth.

We fitted a remote starter in the off season and that was certainly a bonus.  Now that the black truck has gone the new Iveco Motor Home is proving a real treat to the crew we have the capacity for eight going down the highway fully legal with six deluxe bus seats in the back with seat belts, plus a 32" sharp LCD screen in the back which young Damo and Listy made the most of giving the playstation and Xbox a good workout on the way down and back, its certainly a lot better way to travel long distances which we have to do to race. 

Before we head off to Sydney with the continued help of Noel Smith and Des Brown from CQ Cabinet Makers we should be able to get the kitchen, pantry, cupboards, shower and toilets in to make our trips on the road a bit more comfortable.  Thanks to all our continued support from the ever expanding crew and supporters.  We did manage at Willowbank to give away a number of the Toyota chooks to some young fans and I lost track of how many kids had their photo's taken in the Lexus Toyota Genuine Parts Real Deal Motor Sports Insurance Hot Rod.  Hopefully it won't be long before we get the engine for the front engine dragster, and Zac can start his licensing passes.  Once we get it all sorted out which we will do by Nathan driving it in modified at a couple of meetings it will then go off to Hans Kruzen, the paint doctor at Maryboough to give it one of his special paint jobs. 

Alan Croft was back on the hyabusa after the tumble last year at the all bike meet at Mackay, Palmyra Dragstrip  all Bike meeting and he was a bit nervous and gun shy on his first run a bit over 150mph but when he came back he said it was more like 200mph there is only one way to get better in this game, race against better racers and do more runs unfortunatley being based in Rockhampton that is hard and expensive.  

See you at the track.

 

CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS  QUALIFYING ROUND ONE
 
 

05/01/2008 12:42 pm 27Deg,70%H,1001mB,2590RA,(TT)36Deg
444 Right Lane TOM COONAN FORD XR8 , BAE 511
1452 Left Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES
#Tst RcNo 87_______Time Trials, Test and Tune (R) Right Win M:1.183
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
444 SC/S 6.50 0.564 1.117 3.086 4.729 152.65 6.147 7.339 187.89 1
1452 SC/O 6.50 0.638 1.265 3.466 5.363 128.72 7.024 8.448 158.23 1

Our next pairing Tom Coonan in the impeccably presented Falcon, with Team Party Nathan Peirano, not much of a burnout for Peirano in fact little or no smoke at all,  Coonan out staunchly, its not a great pass for Peirano as he hazes the tyres off the line, perhaps a tune up is needed
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CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS  QUALIFYING ROUND TWO

 
05/01/2008 4:25 pm 28Deg,61%H,1000mB,2684RA,(TT)33Deg
1452 Right Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES
756 Left Lane RUSSELL SCHAFER RAIL , 454
#Tst RcNo 158_______Time Trials, Test and Tune (L) Left Win M:2.593
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
1452 SC/O 6.50 0.542 2.856 5.335 7.256 127.55 8.917 10.338 157.01 2
756 SC/O 6.50 0.480 1.225 3.285 5.016 141.69 6.525 7.807 175.57 2

As qualifying for all has been reset to just two passes, we have Nathan Peirano and Russel Schaffer wanting to make a big move on this pass to get ahead in the field, Peirano leaves sluggishly, its a bad run and he won’t make it into the field as he has not made the cut off, another stout but uneventful pass for Schaffer

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CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS ELIMINATIONS ROUND ONE
 

05/01/2008 6:51 pm 28Deg,61%H,1001mB,2595RA,(TT)31Deg
1452 Right Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES
2910 Left Lane BILL FLETCHER DRAGSTER , 362 CI
#Gp3 RcNo 216 SC/O SUPERCHARGED (L) Right Win M:0.390
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
1452 SC/O 8.20 0.568 1.406 3.560 5.406 131.96 7.024 8.409 161.87
2910 SC/O 7.61 0.392 1.106 3.092 4.793 143.31 6.288 7.605 162.16 BF

Nathan Peirano and Bill Fletcher, now Peirano is getting a good head start here with this pass, but Fletcher should be able to round him up, but Fletcher he red lights and hands the win to Peirano, Peiranos are ecstatic they will take a win any way they can.
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CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS ELIMINATIONS ROUND TWO
 

05/01/2008 9:13 pm 23Deg,94%H,1003mB,2175RA,(TT)30Deg
1452 Right Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES
1921 Left Lane DARREN PIDDINGTON PONTIAC , 500
#Gp3 RcNo 283 ---- SUPERCHARGED (R) Right Win M:0.232
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
1452 SC/O 8.20 0.586 1.394 3.553 5.401 131.89 7.017 8.417 155.01
1921 SC/S 7.95 0.662 1.271 3.550 5.410 132.59 6.991 8.323 167.29

Nathan Peirano and Darren Piddington, both racers from Central Queensland, and have raced each other well a couple of times, Piddington giving the head start to Peirano, can Nathan hold onto it and not leave the dreaded cherry on the tree, and its a clean leave on both sides of the track, but Peirano he is ahead and taking the win for a very close race across the finish line as Piddington pulled the chutes very early to save his dial in.
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CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS ELIMINATIONS ROUND FOUR

 

05/01/2008 10:03 pm 23Deg,97%H,1003mB,2042RA,(TT)30Deg
1452 Right Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES

#Gp3 RcNo 322 SC/O SUPERCHARGED (R)
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
1452 SC/O 8.20 0.750 1.244 3.377 5.203 133.14 6.818 8.186 162.28 B

05/01/2008 10:07 pm 22Deg,97%H,1003mB,2024RA,(TT)30Deg
3261 Right Lane PAUL CANNULI TORANA , 388
2346 Left Lane KATHERINE SICHTER DRAGSTER , BAE 526
#Gp3 RcNo 323 ---- SUPERCHARGED (L) Right Win M:0.097
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
3261 SC/S 7.13 0.408 1.200 3.119 4.669 157.45 6.017 7.195 180.58
2346 SC/O 6.55 0.349 1.038 2.815 4.261 169.43 5.511 6.577 208.82 F
 
CARPENTER FORD SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS ELIMINATIONS FINAL

 

05/01/2008 11:16 pm 22Deg,100%H,1004mB,1928RA,(TT)29Deg
3261 Right Lane PAUL CANNULI TORANA , 388
1452 Left Lane NATHAN PEIRANO LEXUS HOT ROD , 240CU 4 LITRES
#Gp3 RcNo 360 ---- SUPERCHARGED (L) Right Win M:1.201
NUM CLASS HCAP REACT 60 330 660 MPH 1000 ET MPH
3261 SC/S 7.13 0.353 1.284 3.303 4.967 141.07 6.586 8.300 116.52
1452 SC/O 8.16 0.385 1.155 3.281 5.117 132.74 6.723 8.097 163.58 BF

Peirano into a strong tyre torturing burnout, Paul Cannuli its a very sedate burnout from him, and the nerves got the better of both of them as they both red lit, but Peirano red lights first handing the win to Cannuli