Well with everything locked and loaded in the truck & trailer and an early leave pass from work on Wednesday, believe it or not we even had a spare day before leaving. Unfortunately due to the ever increasing drain on the crew’s time and holidays it really strikes home when it comes to the trip to Sydney. We were without our back-up truck drivers meaning Nathan had to drive the whole trip both down and back. With the maximum 12hours allowed in the log book it was a credit to him to go on and win the meeting. He does the maintenance and tune-up on both cars, drives the truck and is the driver of his own Lexus Hot Rod.

Talk about the Penthouse and the Outhouse, Zach’s first run 7.27 @ 187mph was a personal best and we were absolutely ecstatic. This was backing up from the Top Fuel Meeting at Willowbank when he ran 7.43 @ 186mph. Zach’s next qualifier he got out of the grove a bit, drifted towards wall then got it back to the middle, had a bit of a peddle but still ran a strong 7.40 @ 182mph and then just when you think you are on top your luck turns and you end up going straight from the Penthouse to the Outhouse. We lifted the blower and saw that there was no oil on the ground but we knew it was terminal. So we whipped the cam covers off to discover a couple of broken shims, popped them out, packed it up and that was Friday done ‘n dusted and we were back to one car.

It wasn’t until Saturday when Zach and Mark were getting the car ready for transporting and had started to clean the fuel out etc. they dropped the tin work off and dropped the diaper down to discover she was full of oil. This was a true testament to a quality product; the DJ Safety Ballistic Nylon Diaper contained the Conrods and the oil for over 24hours and didn’t leak a drop onto the track or our pit. Well done to Joe Hansen the CEO of DJ Safety, he will be out for the Winternationals as a special guest of Mark & the boys at Motorsports Connections and we look forward to catching up with him.

The crew attending this meeting was far from our usual crew with only Raquel and I the regulars. We were without Crofty, Macca, Craig, Lachlan and Reece, so things were looking a bit crook, all no shows for various good reasons. So where do you turn – you turn to the start line crew from Willowbank. We got Ralph “the honourable member for Bundaberg Rum” Snellman, Dale (king of junior dragsters) Wong and Zac’s partner Bec’s brother Mark and our revised crew did an excellent job. We even called in some help from an ex-Rocky boy, blown boat racer Ian Bryant but he just complained that there was never enough food. Seriously Ian was there the whole meeting in the tow car and was a valuable asset to our team.

On the Thursday night the showers had no hot water, actually no water at all came out of the hot tap and I was ready to go ballistic, luckily this was fixed later on that night with a whole lot of hot water systems. Besides that some idiot thought it would be a good idea to rip off one of the shower heads, we had hot showers for the first time ever – congratulations to Sydney Dragway finally you got it right, HOT SHOWERS. Considering the entry costs it is not a lot to ask for.

We were beside Guy and Matty Watts and unfortunately two of the long distance travellers had to meet in the first round, this time we got up but there have been other times when we went down. What we get out of racing and value most of all is the comradeship and life long friendship and this was captured in a great photo at the trophy presentation down there of Matty Watts & Nathan, two friends, two racers, two competitors. As a parent to be able to provide your children with this experience and then witness the joy they gain is really a lovely feeling. I always say to people even the great Kerry Packer with all his money when he was alive could not buy the feelings we experience on that start line – and no two times are the same, the nerves, the adrenalin and exhilaration or just the sheer fact that your loved ones are still alive at the other end. Money cannot buy this and it makes you feel good especially when you know you have something already that is hard to achieve - Those gold Andra Christmas Trees they don’t come cheap. Many people have raced for 20 years plus and have not achieved what we have now done twice, I was always terrified we would be one of the many who never won one, and now I can’t believe we have two. Having two ANDRA Gold Christmas Trees means one stays on display at work and one takes pride of place at Nathan’s house, speaking of that Nathan’s partner Raquel is just not sure if the house is big enough for the trophy, Nathan, her and Ella and I am probably of the same opinion.

Personally I think this ANDRA Gold Christmas Tree meant a lot more to Nathan than the first one. Nathan made sure that on the 20 hour drive back to Rockhampton the trophy stayed close by his side, it rode up in the front of the truck next to the drivers seat with him and if we pulled up the truck was locked, which never usually happens. Even when Nathan got into the back for a sleep the trophy accompanied him and then back in the front with him again, it spent one day at the office then straight back home. One more would be nice so maybe Heather and I could have one on display at our house.

Well the trip home when you win is always a lot more enjoyable then when you go out first round or get rained out, as was our last trip to Sydney. We took the coast road down and back because the back road has deteriorated terribly and ends up just wrecking your gear. The trip back was quite uneventful but we did find a new place to stop “Fredo Pies” at Fredrickton just near Kempsey, it is an absolute must to pull up their they have a selection of about 50 different pies with a great little ice-cream shop next door and I have attached some photos to give you an idea.

So until we meet again it is goodbye from Piranha Racing and thankyou to my eternal wife who puts up with my absolute passion for drag racing and thankyou to all the crew including everyone who has helped out, especially to our major local sponsor Barnsey’s Truck & Trailer Sales. We will see you at the Winternationals when the Australian champion is decided. Christine Steffens is the deserved favourite and rightly so on 200 points with Donald Friend the farmer from Western Australia currently in 2nd place with 170 and Nathan is there on 160 points. We have five rounds of racing left and anyone can win it but I would rather be up there with Christine on 200 points, time will tell. We will be there with Nathan’s engine freshened up and a complete new engine in Zach’s F.E.D. see you soon.

Peter A. "The Legend - The Cheque Book" Peirano.
Piranha Insurance Brokers P/L
"LEXUS PIRANHA SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS HOT ROD"

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