Piranha Racing - Supercharged Outlaws

Willowbank Top Fuel Meeting Friday night 25th & Saturday 26th March

Well, wasn’t it good to go racing - our first qualifier was around 6.30pm Friday night. It is a 10hour minimum trip plus setting up, which is why we left Rocky Thursday afternoon so we weren’t rushed going into our first qualifier. Nathan and Macca shared the driving duties on this momentous trip and I say that because it was our first trip with our youngest grandson, Nash Kaden Peirano, Raquel and Nathan’s three month old little boy. This was his first trip in the Penguin’s Palace and now that the baby seat is in place he was quite happy with mum sitting beside him and plenty of toys to amuse him. I think the general rocking of the Penguin’s Palace kept him asleep and subdued most of the way. We got as far as Matilda and pulled up for the night, it was close on midnight when we spotted Michael Doblo a Rockhampton Super Sedan driver and former National Champion parked up so I promptly woke him up and we chatted over a coffee. Rossco the Pro Bike guru from Mackay turned up but he wasn’t interested in talking. Even when I am off the grog they don’t have time for a chat these days, they are pretty slack that Mackay lot. But with an early start we made it to the track and set up camp.

Bec’s brother Mark turned up in the motor home with his lovely little daughter Charlie, who he had with him for the weekend. As you would realise with two cars running there is a fair bit of preparation, so while Craig, Mark & Zach worked on the F.E.D, Crofty & Nathan predominately worked on the Hot Rod. It was our first meeting with the new Ken Lowe (Deluxe ) Leak down Tester which proved to be well worth the money we invested in it. You know, it costs a lot more to fix a blown up engine then what it costs to save a blow up. We have persevered with poor quality leak down testers for quite some time before eventually biting the bullet buying the Ken Lowe system; we should have done it years ago. It was also a first up qualifier for the Hot Rod, something we had been short of for a while and it was a great relief. We were about an hour behind schedule Friday night and we ran 782 @ 174.71mph.

Similarly the F.E.D punched out a reasonable 762 @ 183.24mph and we were away, a couple of qualifiers on Friday night and another one on Saturday. The first round of racing, Zach was up against Chris Lloy who had been cutting killer lights. Well the killer lights snapped him in the bum because on a 660 dial-in it lifted as he saw the red light - .014 too quick. Meanwhile Zach had cut an excellent .034 light and trundled through in 7.362 @ 185.03mph and he was feeling great. His elation soon turned from the penthouse to the outhouse when in his next round he met up with Fiona Keating in the now Big Block Super Charged car tuned by Daniel Reed. The 500 change in C level picked up little bit more than what we expected and unfortunately Zach ran a tenth better, breaking out. Even though he was off the brakes a little bit early it wasn’t enough and Fiona took a well deserved win moving onto the final against her eventual brother in law to be Matty Watts who is married to Daniel’s sister, Sally. They also had their lovely little girl Leila Grace at the meeting. Matty ended up beating Fiona in the final, being an all family affair.

You may have noticed a bit of a change a the drags these days, with mothers and babies on the scene, similar to what it use to be like over 30years ago when I can vividly remember having Nathan on the hill in a wooden cradle at Surfers Paradise. One of the advantages these days for babies is they make special little infants earmuffs to protect the babies hearing for later days.

We packed up and got to bed about 1.30am, it is a big effort to get everything back into the trailer so we could get away Sunday morning for the 10hour drive home which was once again shared by Macca and Nathan. We had the day off Monday and unpacked the truck & trailer Tuesday night. We leaked down both motors and “yippee yi yeah” both motors were great, we also ripped the blower off the F.E.D just to do some maintenance on the manifold in preparation for the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway 29th April – 2nd May. This is also when Nathan will return as defending champion for last years event and have his last race as Sydney track champion - Quite a feat by a boy from Rockhampton.

See you at the Drag Strip Peter "The Penguin Peirano

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

Nathan "Lexus Piranha" HOT-ROD
Race Report Hot Rod Willowbank March 25th & 26th TOP FUEL MEETING

After testing at the recent Nostalgia meeting in February we found a problem with the fuel system that has been nagging us for over 12 months now so my hopes were high going into this meeting that we would be able to get some consistency back. The main aim was to get a solid qualifying pass in the first session, check the data and go from there. Well after 15 long months we were able to lay down a 7.88 @ 168.43mph and were qualified after the 1st session. Not the best pass by a long way for the Hot Rod but finally headed in the right direction and all of the data showed that there was plenty of room for improvement left. As a side note to this pass I was against Paul Stephen and it was his first pass at Willowbank since his big accident at the Winternationals. We decided to have a little side bet on who could get the best reaction time on the run so red lights were expected. As I was going down the track I looked up and saw that Paul had a cut a 0.017 light which is pretty killer but just like NSW in the State of Origin close enough was not good enough as I managed a red light gone wrong and cut a 0.002.

For the next pass we changed the tune up a little just trying to sneak up on it slowly and a 7.78 @ 171.21 was the result. Needless to say I was pretty happy with that pass as again the data showed that we were still running the car very safe. On the third qualifier on Saturday with the weather being a little worse than the Friday night runs we again made some changes just trying to keep the car consistent and the run was going very well until just after the 1000ft mark when the car stopped pulling and the engine note went off. I backed off and on inspection after I climbed out of the car one of the plug leads had come off. Without this happening the numbers showed that another 7.78 would have been run but due to backing off we ran a 7.82 @ 160.42mph.

For the 1st round of eliminations we were supposed to race Russell Mackay but he had some damage and couldn’t make the call. This gave us an opportunity to test the dial in (7.76) and we ran slightly off at 7.858 @ 169.47mph. After checking the data we noticed that there was excess wheel spin at the launch. There was a slight delay before the run as there was and oil down in that lane but knowing that I would most likely be put into that lane for round 2 I made the call to stick with it for that pass.

In the 2nd round I had to race current Australian Champ Christine Steffens in what would be our first race against each other at a RARS round. We generally have a bit of fun in the lanes prior to a run but it was all business once the cars were started. What a race it would prove to be as Christine ran a 6.608 on her 6.60 dial in coupled with a 0.020 reaction compared to my 7.782 on a 7.760 dial in with a 0.027 reaction time. I honestly thought I had beaten her but you never can tell with those long skinny dragsters and she had pipped me by 21 thousandths of a second. I was pretty disappointed to lose the race by such a little margin but that’s racing, we’ll get them next time.

The reality was that we had finally been able to find our consistency again with all 5 runs between 7.78 and 7.88, no problems and when we made a change to the tune the car responded each time the way we hoped it would. Now all that we have to do is fine tune it and I am confident that we can get the performance back down to the 7.40-7.50 range and hopefully a little quicker and faster starting at the Nitro Champs in Sydney.

Drivers Blog Zach "Penguin "F.E.D. 4452

Our journey started travelling down wednesday night with the family in the mightly Hilux. Our youngest boy Jett is just working out the walking thing it was decided he best stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. We will be investing in a playpen for the winters to keep the growing tribe of kiddies in toe.

With Mark having to work friday and Bec and Lil Bec organising the winbabago, it was Myself and Jakey arriving at the track Friday. Once the camper was parked Mark Craig and I got straight into prepping FED for Fridays two qualifiers.

We had Jak and Ella on cleaning duties fortunately they are rashioned on cleaner as they tend to get a bit carried away in the spraying and not as much of the wiping a funny act to watch. As we have to refill the bottles on the sly and hide them. Youngest of the clan Nash did need some racers tape to help his ride for the weekend ( the porta cot) hold his toys and it was great to have my lil nephew at his pest major meeting.

Well onto racing we went into this meeting feeling quite good about things as both cars were running on song. After the first run when FED struggled to get up on the tyres we noticed it had went lean on the leak down thanks to the new Lowe leak down tester. This was fixed for second round and went 7.63 but FED felt like a completely different car with the barrel valve set right. Third qualifier put get back were Hr should be running a 7.38 @ 185mph. First round comes around an we are pumped up against oour good friends from Warrick the Loys Christine in fact! Into stage and off we go FED is leaving quite alot harder now with the higher launch revs, once launched I looked up and seen the win light in my lane and drove it out the back to check my dial in. Fed went 7.38 on a 7.34 dial at 184 mph, an eventful braking area as no chutes, I pulled up on the carbon brakes which was a relief! Second round and up against Fiona a fierce competitor who previously raced a super competitive class modified. Cut a good light left strong shifted into second seen i had made it past Fiona, backed off amd grabbed the brake all just a tad to late as I made a call on the dial in but didn't give me enough room with the altitude dropping 500 ft and FED still being on the rich side he ran a bit fast. A 7.25 on a 7.31 thats dial your own racing though and good in Fi for taking the new combo to a debut meeting final! Bring on Sydney, pumped and keen to hopefully have a team car final and bring home a tree of my own!



	RACE REPORTS: Willowbank Top Fuel Meeting Friday night 25th & Saturday 26th March Willowbank Top Fuel Meeting Friday night 25th & Saturday 26th March Well, wasn’t it good to go racing - our first qualifier was around 6.30pm Friday night. It is a 10hour minimum trip plus setting up, which is why we left Rocky Thursday afternoon so we weren’t rushed going into our first qualifier. Nathan and Macca shared the driving duties on this momentous trip and I say that because it was our first trip with our youngest grandson, Nash Kaden Peirano, Raquel and Nathan’s three month old little boy. This was his first trip in the Penguin’s Palace and now that the baby seat is in place he was quite happy with mum sitting beside him and plenty of toys to amuse him. I think the general rocking of the Penguin’s Palace kept him asleep and subdued most of the way. We got as far as Matilda and pulled up for the night, it was close on midnight when we spotted Michael Doblo a Rockhampton Super Sedan driver and former National Champion parked up so I promptly woke him up and we chatted over a coffee. Rossco the Pro Bike guru from Mackay turned up but he wasn’t interested in talking. Even when I am off the grog they don’t have time for a chat these days, they are pretty slack that Mackay lot. But with an early start we made it to the track and set up camp. Bec’s brother Mark turned up in the motor home with his lovely little daughter Charlie, who he had with him for the weekend. As you would realise with two cars running there is a fair bit of preparation, so while Craig, Mark & Zach worked on the F.E.D, Crofty & Nathan predominately worked on the Hot Rod. It was our first meeting with the new Ken Lowe (Deluxe ) Leak down Tester which proved to be well worth the money we invested in it. You know, it costs a lot more to fix a blown up engine then what it costs to save a blow up. We have persevered with poor quality leak down testers for quite some time before eventually biting the bullet buying the Ken Lowe system; we should have done it years ago. It was also a first up qualifier for the Hot Rod, something we had been short of for a while and it was a great relief. We were about an hour behind schedule Friday night and we ran 782 @ 174.71mph. Similarly the F.E.D punched out a reasonable 762 @ 183.24mph and we were away, a couple of qualifiers on Friday night and another one on Saturday. The first round of racing, Zach was up against Chris Lloy who had been cutting killer lights. Well the killer lights snapped him in the bum because on a 660 dial-in it lifted as he saw the red light - .014 too quick. Meanwhile Zach had cut an excellent .034 light and trundled through in 7.362 @ 185.03mph and he was feeling great. His elation soon turned from the penthouse to the outhouse when in his next round he met up with Fiona Keating in the now Big Block Super Charged car tuned by Daniel Reed. The 500 change in C level picked up little bit more than what we expected and unfortunately Zach ran a tenth better, breaking out. Even though he was off the brakes a little bit early it wasn’t enough and Fiona took a well deserved win moving onto the final against her eventual brother in law to be Matty Watts who is married to Daniel’s sister, Sally. They also had their lovely little girl Leila Grace at the meeting. Matty ended up beating Fiona in the final, being an all family affair. You may have noticed a bit of a change a the drags these days, with mothers and babies on the scene, similar to what it use to be like over 30years ago when I can vividly remember having Nathan on the hill in a wooden cradle at Surfers Paradise. One of the advantages these days for babies is they make special little infants earmuffs to protect the babies hearing for later days. We packed up and got to bed about 1.30am, it is a big effort to get everything back into the trailer so we could get away Sunday morning for the 10hour drive home which was once again shared by Macca and Nathan. We had the day off Monday and unpacked the truck & trailer Tuesday night. We leaked down both motors and “yippee yi yeah” both motors were great, we also ripped the blower off the F.E.D just to do some maintenance on the manifold in preparation for the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway 29th April – 2nd May. This is also when Nathan will return as defending champion for last years event and have his last race as Sydney track champion - Quite a feat by a boy from Rockhampton. See you at the Drag Strip Peter "The Penguin Peirano Peter A. "The Legend - The Cheque Book" Peirano. Piranha Insurance Brokers P/L "LEXUS PIRANHA SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS HOT ROD" Nathan "Lexus Piranha" HOT-ROD Race Report Hot Rod Willowbank March 25th & 26th TOP FUEL MEETING After testing at the recent Nostalgia meeting in February we found a problem with the fuel system that has been nagging us for over 12 months now so my hopes were high going into this meeting that we would be able to get some consistency back. The main aim was to get a solid qualifying pass in the first session, check the data and go from there. Well after 15 long months we were able to lay down a 7.88 @ 168.43mph and were qualified after the 1st session. Not the best pass by a long way for the Hot Rod but finally headed in the right direction and all of the data showed that there was plenty of room for improvement left. As a side note to this pass I was against Paul Stephen and it was his first pass at Willowbank since his big accident at the Winternationals. We decided to have a little side bet on who could get the best reaction time on the run so red lights were expected. As I was going down the track I looked up and saw that Paul had a cut a 0.017 light which is pretty killer but just like NSW in the State of Origin close enough was not good enough as I managed a red light gone wrong and cut a 0.002. For the next pass we changed the tune up a little just trying to sneak up on it slowly and a 7.78 @ 171.21 was the result. Needless to say I was pretty happy with that pass as again the data showed that we were still running the car very safe. On the third qualifier on Saturday with the weather being a little worse than the Friday night runs we again made some changes just trying to keep the car consistent and the run was going very well until just after the 1000ft mark when the car stopped pulling and the engine note went off. I backed off and on inspection after I climbed out of the car one of the plug leads had come off. Without this happening the numbers showed that another 7.78 would have been run but due to backing off we ran a 7.82 @ 160.42mph. For the 1st round of eliminations we were supposed to race Russell Mackay but he had some damage and couldn’t make the call. This gave us an opportunity to test the dial in (7.76) and we ran slightly off at 7.858 @ 169.47mph. After checking the data we noticed that there was excess wheel spin at the launch. There was a slight delay before the run as there was and oil down in that lane but knowing that I would most likely be put into that lane for round 2 I made the call to stick with it for that pass. In the 2nd round I had to race current Australian Champ Christine Steffens in what would be our first race against each other at a RARS round. We generally have a bit of fun in the lanes prior to a run but it was all business once the cars were started. What a race it would prove to be as Christine ran a 6.608 on her 6.60 dial in coupled with a 0.020 reaction compared to my 7.782 on a 7.760 dial in with a 0.027 reaction time. I honestly thought I had beaten her but you never can tell with those long skinny dragsters and she had pipped me by 21 thousandths of a second. I was pretty disappointed to lose the race by such a little margin but that’s racing, we’ll get them next time. The reality was that we had finally been able to find our consistency again with all 5 runs between 7.78 and 7.88, no problems and when we made a change to the tune the car responded each time the way we hoped it would. Now all that we have to do is fine tune it and I am confident that we can get the performance back down to the 7.40-7.50 range and hopefully a little quicker and faster starting at the Nitro Champs in Sydney. Drivers Blog Zach "Penguin "F.E.D. 4452 Our journey started travelling down wednesday night with the family in the mightly Hilux. Our youngest boy Jett is just working out the walking thing it was decided he best stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. We will be investing in a playpen for the winters to keep the growing tribe of kiddies in toe. With Mark having to work friday and Bec and Lil Bec organising the winbabago, it was Myself and Jakey arriving at the track Friday. Once the camper was parked Mark Craig and I got straight into prepping FED for Fridays two qualifiers. We had Jak and Ella on cleaning duties fortunately they are rashioned on cleaner as they tend to get a bit carried away in the spraying and not as much of the wiping a funny act to watch. As we have to refill the bottles on the sly and hide them. Youngest of the clan Nash did need some racers tape to help his ride for the weekend ( the porta cot) hold his toys and it was great to have my lil nephew at his pest major meeting. Well onto racing we went into this meeting feeling quite good about things as both cars were running on song. After the first run when FED struggled to get up on the tyres we noticed it had went lean on the leak down thanks to the new Lowe leak down tester. This was fixed for second round and went 7.63 but FED felt like a completely different car with the barrel valve set right. Third qualifier put get back were Hr should be running a 7.38 @ 185mph. First round comes around an we are pumped up against oour good friends from Warrick the Loys Christine in fact! Into stage and off we go FED is leaving quite alot harder now with the higher launch revs, once launched I looked up and seen the win light in my lane and drove it out the back to check my dial in. Fed went 7.38 on a 7.34 dial at 184 mph, an eventful braking area as no chutes, I pulled up on the carbon brakes which was a relief! Second round and up against Fiona a fierce competitor who previously raced a super competitive class modified. Cut a good light left strong shifted into second seen i had made it past Fiona, backed off amd grabbed the brake all just a tad to late as I made a call on the dial in but didn't give me enough room with the altitude dropping 500 ft and FED still being on the rich side he ran a bit fast. A 7.25 on a 7.31 thats dial your own racing though and good in Fi for taking the new combo to a debut meeting final! Bring on Sydney, pumped and keen to hopefully have a team car final and bring home a tree of my own!