"Ian made that clutch, the whole thing. The smart racers aren't saying anything about the Inky Valve, they want the clutch - a lot of people want the clutch. The real fast blokes know that the Inky Valve has a lot to do with it, but it also has a lot to do with the clutch. That's something else Ian developed over two years of racing.

"This meeting in Perth, it was the first time we ran the Inky Valve and the clutch together. We'd never run the Inky Valve before but we've been running the clutch for a while. It worked really well with the Rootes, but with the PSI it's come into its own."

So is this the big secret? Everyone's chasing around about the mysterious Inky Valve, but all along it's been the clutch? A clutch is a clutch and there are different types of clutches, but why does this one work so well?

"It just does what it's supposed to do. It looks like a normal clutch but Ian's made it out of different stuff. It's not your standard run-of-the-mill clutch. Naturally I can't go into it, but when you've got blokes like Victor ringing my crew guy Jeff Cutajar asking what we've done with the clutch you know you've got something. But by the same token Victor has been good with us, he's helped us too and Ian has helped him. Victor tried something with the clutch the same time we were doing it. At the time Victor thought he was going down the right path and Ian was telling him what we were doing and now it's obvious we did the right thing. Ian now says to him, 'I told you once, I'm not going to tell you again!'

"Basically the success has been in the clutch and the fuel system. That's probably a good 85 percent of getting the car down the track. Victor has his own fuel system which he's designed his own way to try to manage his fuel curve. Ian's designed a valve which is the size of your fist and it's just so basic, yet it works so good. It's just a credit to the man."

GOING FOR A 5-SECOND TIME

So what was that final round shot at a 5-second time like?

"You better believe it was wild. She got up, I hit second gear, it shook a little bit, I peddled it, got back into it, I hit third gear and she came up again but it was a slow climb. And it just started climbing and climbing. I thought this isn't good enough so I got off it, nailed it again and then it's come up twice as quick, and then I thought we just better let that one go. Ian said I should have just hit the back brakes. Yeah, no worries mate. At half-track it went 194 mph.

"The car's never wheelstood. The Beretta used to, always, and you got used to it. This thing has never picked up, especially at 194 mph. But we've already modified the front and put a bit of down force into it so hopefully it won't happen again. We've just stopped the wind from getting under it. We've put a lip around the front.

"I knew the 6.07 was quick. I've gone to half track side by side with Victor and then he gets me at three-quarter track. But when he didn't come around me at three-quarter track, I thought, 'Man, we're going fast!' And Victor is one of the world's fastest men, and beating him was like, wow!"

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