Kapiris Flies with Roots Blower
in Western Australia
By Stu Bond
I hope you do not think we a clutching at straws here <g>, but we have seen a new world record speed for a Roots blown sedan at the new Quit Motorplex in Western Australia.
It was a great night's racing, with damage to the beautiful Koop De'Ville '55 Chev Doorslammer belonging to Dave and Barbara Koop of South Australia the biggest downer. The Chevy broke the engine (I suspect the crank let go) at 1,000 feet and over 200 mph and this resulted in quite an oil fire in the breaking area. Dave is 100% OK and the team is already considering their options to get back on track ASAP.
Peter Kapiris, from Victoria, established what is believed to be a new World Record speed for a Roots Blown sedan with a remarkable 234.98-mph pass. The team also demonstrated the ultimate in sportsmanship when they were pairing for their race against Western Australian Peter Hamilton. The preceding cars left oil on the track. During the clean up, I asked Peter if he would be changing lanes and exercising his lane choice. He said, "I would not do that to the racer in the other lane. I came here to race and that is what I will do in this lane."
He was beaten when Hamilton ran a personal best of 6.6 and Kapiris had massive tire shake and had to fight for control of the car.
Most of the front running teams in the Australian championship had at least some difficulty learning about the new surface. The consensus was that the track would take everything they could throw at it. Most teams upped the tire pressure, tightened the clutch, and drove through the shake.
Andrew Searle raced Gary Philips in the final, two cars with 6.2 second potential. Both teams really got a handle on the track and the crowd was treated to a barnburner.
ANDREW SEARLE 6.425, 217.91 mph 0.502 RT win
GARY PHILLIPS 6.385, 224.43 mph 0.563 RT lose
The cars were separated by less than 2 feet at the finish line!
Awesome.
Now that they all have a tune up, the racers are talking about the next Doorslammer round, which will be held here in the West at the Western Nationals, an ANDRA record setting event that also includes Top Bike.
The Westernats are staged over 2 days, March 3 and 4, 2001.
Regards,
Stu Bond
