The first day of qualifying for the opener of the 2018/2019 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series is finished at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Drag Strip.

Leith Darrach led Modified Bike at 8.489/172.34.

Darren Saliba ran 7.498/182.53 in Top Sportsman.

Chris Farrell led Modified with a 7.460/188.17. (High RPM photos)

Other top qualifiers are Jake Berias, 8.037/80.12 (Jr. Dragster), Gavin Pocok, 10.349/ (Super Street) Ashley Smith, 8.649/154.55 (Super Sedan), and Adam Murrihy, 6.535/212.86 (Supercharged Outlaws).  [07/13/18]

Martin and his wife Cindy renamed the race team Martin Family Motorsports. Other team members include Dave Purcell (Team Manager), Sean Barnes (Car Chief), Mario Campos (Asst. Car Chief), Jessica Campos (Floater), Andrew Martin and Alaina Martin.

Will Martin stepped away from Nostalgia Funny car racing at the end of last season and is on his way to fulfilling a move into a Top Alcohol Funny Car.

“Before he built the nostalgia car, his original dream was to expand upon his previous success in alcohol racing and move up to Top Alcohol Funny Car,” said team president, Cindy Martin. “We decided that now was the time to make the switch and being the process of chasing that unrealized dream.”

Victory Race Cars built the car named “Clean Slate” with Rod Burke Designs handling the paint scheme. The car will receive Brad Anderson power with a Molinari Clutch.

The car will be delivered to the team’s base in Wildomar, CA, the first week in August. Plans are to make its competition debut in 2019.    [07/13/18]

This week many cars will run up the infamous hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed July 12-15 in Chichester, England, with two able to pilot themselves through the 1.5-mile course.

This 1965 Mustang has been modified by Siemens AG and Cranfield University to bridge the gap between automotive history and its future. It is still powered by its 200-horsepower, 289-cube small-block and shifted by a three-speed automatic. At the flick of a switch it can go from being driven normally to driving itself. The complex hill climb presents a unique challenge. The team behind it turned to Bentley Systems to provide a three-dimensional scan of the course to help guide the Mustang up the hill. Even with that much tech onboard, it is only expected to ascend at about 40 MPH.

Robocar, will drive itself in the Roborace, the driverless racing series which is a support race for the all-electric Formula E competition.  [07/13/18]