Monthly Archives: November 2009

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Zappia out in Round 1

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John Zappia is licking his wounds this week after a Round 1 loss in the ANDRA Top Doorslammer Pro Series Round Three run at the annual Goldenstates last weekend, despite running three 5.8 second passes.

Zap came up against Ben Bray in a Round 1 match up that had the local crowd on edge, and young Bray recorded one of the biggest snatches of the meeting with some clever driving.

“I got beaten fair and square on reaction time” said Zap, “Congratulations to young Benny Bray – it took the quickest side by side pass in history for him to do it, but that’s the excitement of Top Doorslammer racing at its best”.

The huge crowd at the Perth Motorplex looked stunned and confused after the run, as Craig Pedley’s “Crusher” recorded the lower ET of 5.834 @ 245.23mph, but the green win light was on Bray’s board with a slower 5.880 @ 248.61mph. It was a reaction time of 0.087 from Bray that got him the win against Zap’s 0.140.

Earlier in the weekend Zap ran a gorgeous straight 5.881 @ 243.24mph in the first qualifier on Friday night, after most of the field had trouble getting down the track.

“I wanted to run a 5.7, so I hotted the “Crusher” up for Round 2, but the track could not hold the power and I blew the Mickey Thompson tyres off. So I went back to a safer tune and progressed with a quicker 5.858 @ 243.24mph third qualifier that put us third on the order behind Fabietti’s 5.844 and Judd’s 5.857. Not really where I wanted to be, as it gave me a Round 1 match up against Benny Bray – and he always digs deep to try and beat me”.

The event was won by local West Australian racer Robin Judd, who defeated a hurt Fabietti in the final.

“There is a lot more to this season yet, and we are still third in the Championship – so all is not lost. Some new higher performing parts have finally arrived that I was sort of counting on for this meeting that will go into the “Crusher” for local meetings here. We have four National Open meetings here to contest in Top Comp before the next round of Top Doorslammer. We are now running second in the Top Comp Championship here in Perth and we have a strong chance at this”.

“There are a lot of positives to this meeting even though we went out in the first round. The new Crusher race car is only nine runs old and we are still fine tuning the chassis, suspension and engine. We are quite excited at the potential that we have seen with this car and are looking forward to the remainder of the season”.

“A special thanks to our major Sponsors United Industries, who were at the event for the weekend. They presented us with an amazing coffee making machine that made life easier for the Zappia Racing Team to relax and enjoy the meeting”.

“Crusher” owner and Striker Crushing and Screening Director Craig Pedley and Chris Lane, one of the other Directors were a surprise and welcomed visitors to the meeting to watch Craig’s car compete its first round of the Championships. We hope to see more of them in the coming events.

Some interesting facts on Zappia Racing Top Doorslammer times:

“Zap’s Rat” and “Crusher” combined:
73 total passes of 5.999 or better
23 total passes of 5.899 or better

The pedigree of the new “Crusher” with only 9 full passes:
7 total passes of 5.999 or better – of those 5 have been 5.899 or better
1 pass of 6.005

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Zappia runs 5.83 and wins in new Top Doorslammer

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John Zappia took the A Final win in “Top Comp” last weekend at the Perth Motorplex in Craig Pedley’s new Crusher HQ Monaro Top Doorslammer, and further secured his reputation as Australia’s leading Top Doorslammer tuner and driver. The current Top Doorslammer back-to-back National Champion drove the new car in its first event since licensing, and managed to pick up the trophy, cash and top points for the Top Comp Championship – the most coveted local Group 2 Blown Alcohol Championship in Australia.

“The team was thrilled to win” said John Zappia, “We really like winning and the standard is very high in our team, and we still get very excited with a win and quick times. We got a lot of personal satisfaction in this win, because it proves our reputation beyond one car. Zap’s Rat – the Striker Top Doorslammer has been racing for years now, and we hold the National Record in that car, but this new car is different, and our set ups, tune and systems all proved themselves well when applied to the Crusher Monaro”.

Zap came out for the first qualifying opportunity at 3.30 pm and despite a perfect reaction time of 0.000, Zap had to pedal the Crusher to keep it straight, and a 6.006 @ 237.46 mph was the result. The Zappia Racing crew was all over the car in the pits, making calculated adjustments to the suspension – the key to getting these 3,500 horsepower monsters down the track. The compulsory qualifier at 6.30 pm after the Pro Stock cars resulted in a dead straight 5.945 @ 239.36 mph to place the Crusher 4th in the Top Comp qualifying list, 0.475 seconds under the index of 6.420.

“Top Comp is a tough bracket to race in, and we needed to be very quick to get into a final here. The 5.945 was good, but we needed something special – maybe an “eight” or a “seven”. I hotted up the Crusher for the first Eliminator and a 5.832 @ 245.23 was a huge performance against Debbie O’Rourke’s AA/FC Funny Car 6.229 @ 225.56. Not far off our National Record 5.828″.

The A Final was up against Andrew Minogue in his CC/GA Sedan – a Gas class for heavier sedan small blocks with auto transmissions – who had managed a remarkable 7.153 in qualifying, a full 1.017 under his index of 8.170. His index in the final was adjusted to 7.69, and Zap’s index had reduced to 6.12 – on paper it was easier for Minogue to take the win, but Zap caught him sleeping on the line and took the win with a 0.076 reaction 5.862 @ 244.56 to the Falcon’s 7.104 @ 193.13 on a 0.433 reaction time.

“Winners are grinners and we are over the moon at the moment with a lot of momentum in our team. The hard work has paid off – and trust me, the crew and supporters have put a huge effort into this car. There’s a lot of new crew on this car, so they need to take a bow as well for their roles in adding support for the more experienced Zap’s Rat crew who are passing on their many years of experience”.

“We are ready to take on the teams at the upcoming Round 3 of the ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer Championship at the Goldenstates here in Perth on the 13th-14th November. We have local track knowledge, a formidable car to present, and a team full of confidence with the potential shown with the new car. The Eastern States teams will have to be at their best as both local racers are in career best form. We could see another Zappia / Judd final but hopefully we can turn the result around and strengthen our lead in the Championship.