26 July 2011
For Steven Ham and the East Coast Lubes/Mobil 1 funny car, the 2011 Castrol Edge Winternationals proved to be a good opportunity to showcase the cars performance and end the season with a strong finish. With three drivers contesting for 2nd place in the championship it was still going to be a hotly contested event.
With some unfavourable weather moving in over Willowbank Raceway, the team took a conservative approach to the first qualifier with it paying off with a 5.65 pass at over 400kph. This left the team in a strong 3rd place, just below Jamie Noonan and Wayne Newby. Shortly after laying down a strong 5.71 in the second session, the skies opened up and forced an end to the rest of qualifying and the weekends racing.
Fast forward a few weeks, to the Winternationals re-run, after being seeded 3rd in the field the team would face off with rookie Jon Sting in the first round. This proved to be a tough match-up with Steven narrowly taking the holes-hot win by 0.05 seconds, while also carding a 5.63 second time in the process. After bringing the car back to the pit area for round two servicing, some damage was found within the engine. This required a huge effort by the crew to not only rebuild the damaged engine but to get the car ready for the next round, all in less than an hour.
The team would take on newly crowned class champion Wayne Newby in round two. This race would be critical to the teams aspirations for 2nd place in the championship. The big effort the team put in to get the car ready paid off with the win and a 5.58 second pass against Newby’s 6.64. A personal best ET for the team in eliminations and moved the team into its first ever final elimination round in Top Alcohol.
Unfortunately once again the Queensland weather got the better of the event with rain forcing the cancellation of the final round against Jamie Noonan. However the cancellation would not dampen driver Steven Ham’s spirits, who was ecstatic with the cars performance. “We have been working really hard to find some consistency with the car all season, We think we have started to find that now. We are already preparing for next season and we will be aiming for our first win with the car. “
The next appearance for the East Coast Lubes/Mobil 1 funny car will be at Sydney Dragway for the start of the 2011/2012 ANDRA Pro Series.
TSP Racing would like to thank its sponsors for there continued support throughout the season.
East Coast Lubricants, A Mobil 1 Distributor.
RD Williams Excavator Parts
BMI Engineering.
D and M Plant Hire
Cargo Transport Systems