Street Machine Drag Challenge 2026 presented by VPW Australia is officially the biggest in the event’s history, with 290 entrants ready to rock this morning at Victorian Motorports Park.

There are a stack of very fast cars that have done the event before – think Keith Hards’ XW Fairmont, Luke Foley’s VH, Jason Kenny’s VN, Barry Hall’s Holden-powered VH and Ben Neal’s Cressida, amongst many others.

Then there are stack of brand-new. or signficantly reworked cars out to play, including Tassie bloke Nathan Rainbird’s already-quick VH Commodore wagon, Ben Paganoni’s now-green, Barra-powered Mustang and Steve Serone’s just-finished twin-turbo LC Torana.

Yesterday’s test and tune saw 100-odd cars take ot the track, with some finding early glory and other’s tasting early disappointment.

Keith Hard’s XW Fairmont has been one of the form cars coming into the event, recording stoking 7.06-second pass at 204mph in Jamboree testing. Yesterday didn’t go quite to plan, with two big wheelstands thrilling the crowds.

Jason Kenny finished eight overall last year and is looking like a serious contender for a podium spot in his yellow VN.

Steve Serone took his twin-turbo LC out for the first time and came away happy with an 8.7 at 163mph, with plenty more to come.

Not everyone had a great time. Aiden Stampalia was the talk of the pits in his desert-rescue HG Monaro, but a broken carbon-fibre tailshaft soon bit a dampner on his day.

Mark Arblaster unfortunately is out of the event, hitting the wall in his just-finished POR440 Valiant.

Tasmanian Nathan Rainbird has made a blinding debut in the last week with his new VK wagon. The single-turbo Warspeed LS combo cracked a seven on its very first time down the track last week and is on a charge with a 7.7-second pass today

Barry Hall’s VK is another car with some great form under its belt, but some mechanical issues meant that Barry and his crew had a big night ahead of them.

Jason Mansweto finsihed second in his class last year and is again looking like a real contender in Street Pro 235 Aspirated in his GRANDPA XY ute.

See you at the track!