First published in the March 2009 issue of Street Machine

Exesive by name, and by nature. The Exesive Motorsports National Open Drag Racing Championships at Calder Park, Victoria, had seven classes contested by some 200 entrants, and first and second places shared just over $20,000. As if that wasn’t enough, the class winners went on to compete in a dial-your-own elimination to bag the title of Grand Champion and a cheque for $20,000.

A buy-back scheme meant competitors could get back in the game after first-round eliminations for just $100. With additions from sponsors, that raised $17,700 for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

With what’s claimed to be the biggest prize-pool in the land, nerves were shredded and many entrants struggled to come to grips with changing conditions. That meant red lights and breakouts were common during eliminations.

The event finale pitted two great sports and worthy possible winners against each other — Ennio Marocco and Michael Braggs. The guys had been down this road during eliminations at a previous event. Ennio took the honours then and this time was no different.

Leading up to the showdown, the Super Sedan final was between Michael’s Cortina and Ennio’s Gemini. Michael red-lit, giving Ennio the class win. But Michael won the charity auction for a wildcard golden ticket, spending $1600 to get back in. This time Ennio staged late while the Cortina went too well. Trying to cut a perfect light against the super-consistent Gemini, Michael ran a personal best 9.34@145mph — on a 9.36 dial-in.

Despite the perfect result, the 400 SBC-powered Gemini wasn’t without its share of dramas on the day. “We had a problem with the line-locker so I was struggling to do a good burnout. We finally fixed it but decided to leave it as I preferred to drive it the same as it had been all day. We couldn’t run delay boxes at this event so I also disconnected my trans-brake and ran off the foot brake only.”

Exesive’s Peter Pisalidis was more than pleased with the day. “Big thanks to all the competitors who entered and were great about turning cars around, buying back, participating in the auction, and making this event so exciting and such a success.

“Thanks too to all the Calder staff who ran this meeting without complaint. And to our sponsors who helped make this possible and put up all the prizes. We’ll be back with a bigger and better format next time.”

Christine Unsworth from the Royal Children’s Hospital also had thanks to offer.

She said: “To receive such an amazing donation is fantastic. Congratulations to all involved — it was great to be there. And sincere thanks for this magnificent donation.”

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Pat Caruso was out with a new car. The LJ’s pump gas 400 SBC was good for 9.80@138mph in the car’s third outing. Testing a new converter, Pat was in good form until an ignition problem during the third round put an end to his day.

2. Crowd-favourite Rob Campese ventured south with the twin-turbo CV Cortina. Running in Pro Radial, Rob recorded an easy 7.60@170mph in the test ’n’ tune. Unfortunately, the car got into a tank-slap and touched the wall during eliminations, causing minor damage.

3. Wayne Lineker’s Mazda RX-4 has a 347 Windsor stroker under the bonnet. After running a best-ever 11.48@119mph, Wayne missed the call for the third-round eliminations! Wayne says a new ProCharger F1R is going on sometime soon.

4. Geoff Kelly’s twin-turbo 400 SBC Altered ran 7.90 on a back-off pass at Heathcote. Trans-brake problems led to 8.10@180mph here, still its best trap-speed to date.

5. Real Street standout was Glenn Everitt in Australia’s quickest VE. The 1800kg SS runs twin G&D turbos and has gone 10.21@134mph on street radials. New tyres didn’t help, with mid-10s.

6. Michael Samawi’s big turbo RB30 VL has only had a few passes with a new engine and rear end. Its best is 8.73@153mph but it got loose in qualifying and couldn’t run eliminations as it hadn’t qualifyied.

7. Frank Marchese struggled for traction early but the 427 SBF XW ran a best-ever pass of 9.65@143mph, for runner-up in Real Street.

8. Australia’s quickest IRS car, Tim Holmyard’s 427 LS1 VX, was impressive. Tim had suffered fuelling issues but they were rectified with a new nitrous controller. Traction problems were also overcome to run a new PB of 8.73@158mph.