Sydney drag racer Pete Glass’s beautifully presented LJ Torana coupe isn’t quite track ready at the moment, but after some gentle arm-twisting from Grudge Kings insider Brad Cini the night before, he decided to bring the car to the event to display it in the show and shine anyway. And rightly so, because as far as race cars go, this one’s a drop-dead stunner.

Bought by Pete as a road-going car with a 308, Supra five-speed and Banjo rear end, it’s been stripped to its absolute bare essentials and built up as a lightweight strip stormer. Powered by an injected 434ci small block Chev with a Powerglide and aluminium nine-inch diff, it is exquisitely engineered and now features a chrome moly cage from front to back among many other highlights.

With Alfa Motorsport-sourced fiberglass front clip, doors, bonnet and bootlid, the only OEM steel remaining is in the roof, rear quarters, front rails and firewall. Pete wasn’t too keen for us to divulge the exact weight of the car, but suffice to say there’s not a lot of it to speak of.

So far the Torana has gone as quick as 8.80@160mph, and with some converter issues now sorted Pete’s hoping to drive the car further into the eights. It’s off for some chassis tweaks to get the 60-foot times down in the vicinity of where they should be, and then it’ll be back on track, shaking up the Top Sportsman ranks.