Tim will make the trip to Street Machine Drag Challenge in his 1934 Ford Coupe, joining a bunch of racers from Portland and the wider South Coast region who are heading east for five days of racing, cruising and catching up with mates.

Tim’s love of motorsport started before he had a license.

“Yeah, got into racing many years ago, dragging it with mates who were into hot rods back when I was like 13 to 15 years old,” Tim said.

His first car down the drag strip was a ’65 Impala, running mid-14s.

“Learnt a lot and made a lot of good friends over it. But it’s been a fabulous journey. It has been, and still is, an amazing journey to be on,” Tim said.

These days, Tim has swapped the Impala for something a little different — a ’34 Ford coupe he bought out of Western Australia.

“I’m actually racing this car while we get our ’67 Mstang Pro Mod finished up, which is not far away,” he said, “So we were pretty fortunate to get a really good car to start with.”

“We’ve since done a few things to it. We’ve put a few things on the engine, redone the paint, bits and pieces,” he said.

The coupe was originally destined to be more of a streeter, but Tim couldn’t resist putting it to work.

“It’s not really ideal for what it is, but we’re enjoying it,” he said.

And while hot rods aren’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think Drag Challenge, Tim reckons that’s part of the fun.

“You don’t often see hot rods in Drag Challenge, but we’re going to give it a crack with this one,” he said.

“Why not? It takes all shapes and varieties. That’s the beauty of Drag Challenge, I guess. The diversity of cars is incredible.”

Tim has actually experienced Drag Challenge before.

“I’ve done it with a mate in his car and I’ve gone, ‘This is the coolest adventure I’ve done in ever, I think in cars,’” he said.

“And now to be a part of it, to experience it inside, it’s going to be really cool.”

This time around, Tim will be behind the wheel alongside his mate Darren, with the pair planning to enjoy the event for what it is rather than chasing a particular result.

“There’s no real dead-set goals to achieve anything winning,” Tim said.

“This is more about the camaraderie, the friendships you make, the laughter, the beers, the food, the cruising. That’s what it’s all about to me.”

The adventure will start right at home, with Tim planning to leave Portland West on the Sunday and take his time making the trip to Heathcote.

“We’re going to really enjoy the experience of this, going and leaving and just enjoying the week,” he said.

“We’ll just cruise along and enjoy the time. Just take your time and enjoy the time, I suppose. Use it as a holiday.”

He won’t be the only one making the trip from the region, either.

“There’s five from Portland doing it this year, or five from, we call it South Coast, which would be cool to be a part of that,” Tim said.

“We’ve got some friends out of Mount Gambier, and some people in Portland are doing it, which would be great to do it with them too.”

The group won’t necessarily all leave together, but Tim reckons having plenty of familiar faces out on the road will make the week even better.

“It’s going to be cool to do it with them and just to be a part of it,” he said.

For anyone who hasn’t experienced Drag Challenge before, Tim reckons it’s almost impossible to explain properly.

“Probably, I think it was about 280 like-minded idiots challenging themselves in their car, pushing to the limit to do something really cool,” he said.

“You’ve got to experience it to see it and understand how it works.”

That combination of racing, road miles and mateship is what has Tim looking forward to finally being on the other side of the fence.

“We see it come through South Coast, obviously, and see it and go, ‘Well, these guys are nuts,’” he said.

With a ’34 Ford, a good mate alongside him and a stack of South Coast locals heading in the same direction, Tim is ready to find out what the week has in store.

“It’d be bloody amazing,” he said. “Looking forward to it.”

Street Machine Drag Challenge, presented by VPW, runs from Tuesday 27 October to Saturday 31 October 2026, starting and finishing at Victorian Motorsports Park.