Who said Kiwi's can't fly???????????????????????

Dont know who was at the World Finals in Pomona on the weekend but all the Kiwi's are very happy with the results of our very own Kiwi, Grant Downing who piloted his Fuel Funny car to 4.9sec at 305MPH!

This was a real Kiwi deal with a borrowed trailer, limited tools, limited used second hand parts and donated fuel and tyres!

Kiwis might not have wings but they can fly!

 

Hey, well done you blokes, don't know if too many others here would know what a kiwi is! BTW you guys are now favourites for the world cup.

 

This jsut off the wire.......gives a bit more perspective on the achievment.

Hi mate, Looks like you've got it all handled there. A quick run down on the weekend. They ran the car once on Thursday. A clean 5.35 @ 237 . but it shook hard.I wasn't there. Some of us have to work you know. Friday's p*** was aOK. There was a lot of clutch dust in the car and he was running into the afternoon sun and couldn't see. So he pulled the parachutes early that scrubbed off a lot of speed, but still ran a 5.09 @ 264.
Saturday ran a 5.01 but didn't get a speed coz Phil Burkhart nicked the speed cone at the finish so no speed was recorded. When we were going down the return road,the valve blew off the spare CO2 bottle in the start line tool box, and knocked Lynn, Silky and Mellissa off the tail gate of the truck. And as they found out they can't run backwards at 15 mph!. Lynne sustained a broken arm and the other 2 recieved bumps and s****es. Lynne got taken to the hospital while we serviced the car. A new rack of pistons ( used of cousrs) and slammed on the other set of heads (used of course ) warmed it up and dragged it out. Still with only 1 impact gun going ( another ****in' compreesor took a **** ) we turned the car around in 90 minutes. (allowed 75 min. between rounds ) Lynne arrived back at the start line just as we pulled the car out to the back of the burnout box. usual routine, and staged. Went absolutely perfectly straight and saw the 4.99 come up!!! then the 305 mph. The crowd went wild!!!. The announcer was saying how we were all kiwis racing with no budget, this was only the second national event we'd ever entered and Grant's 6th p*** in a Fuel Funny Car. Brought tears to our eyes mate I tell ya! Didn't even service the car when we got back to the pits. Just drained the oil and pulled the spark plugs and pushed it in the trailer for the night. and had a shandy. No I lied there, I had 2. Pulled the motor and changed the crank on Sunday (used of course) and then serviced the blown KB margarita mixer so the boys at CSK could use it later on. If you see that on the TV coverage , you'll see us in the background. So that's it. Some info you may be able to give to whoever. Excellent weekend, some power drinkin' and some hard work too. cheers Golly

 

Thanks Paul.

Golly has quite a way with words!

Had quite a few people shakin' their heads!

 

You "sheep farmers" are a tough lot! The company I work for, Cytec, supplied material for "Black Magic," the boat that kicked *** in the former "America's Cup." Congrats on an outstanding effort and I hope all heal quickly.....