Phillips: Power’s not the problem

FORMER national drag racing champion, Gary Phillips, rated his semi final berth at the Westernationals two weekends ago as a solid advance in the right direction.

Despite stopping short of the final, the Hillcrest father was rational about the team’s expectations from the event.

“It would be unrealistic for us to have expected a win this weekend, but the big plus is that despite running hard, the engine came back clean after every run,” the Lucas Oils Studebaker Doorslammer driver said.

“Looking at our 60-foot increments and the miles per hour we run, the horsepower is not the problem.

“We’re making good launch times, but we’re on a steep learning curve with the new four-link, where it’s shaking the tyres around the 150 foot mark.

“Having said that, the new changes have given us a few avenues to do some experimenting and there are definitely opportunities to step it up and get back into the game.”

With the Doorslammer championship in full swing, Phillips will use the remaining two rounds, plus some extra testing, to get reacquainted with his championship winning Studebaker, sighting every run as an opportunity to learn.

“The goal posts have changed in Doorslammer,” he said.

“We’re not shooting for low sixes (seconds) now - that’s ancient history.

“These days you have to run 5.80’s to be in the running and we intend to rise to the challenge.”