NO NITROUS IN TOP DOORSLAMMER

Not quite correct, I'm sorry. There was no "minority" of nitrous racers - there were in fact NO nitrous racers when this occurred. It was done in consultation with every active Top Doorslammer racer in the country, and the Top Doorslammer Association, and was done so they didn't have the possibility at some point in the future of having to slow down the blown cars every season to keep nitrous competitive, a situation that does no-one any favours. TD is plenty good without nitrous, it's totally unnecessary, and nitrous has never been particularly popular here compared to blowers at any level except maybe super street sportman racing anyway.

If I had to guess, I'd say your phone call "source" on this was one particular east coast guy who imported a nitrous engine without talking to ANDRA, any of the TD racers or the TDA, then had a very public dummy spit when he "found out" about the rule change, and has proceeded to spend the entire time since bagging the crap out of ANDRA at every available opportunity. Basically he's a total tool.

You can contact the president of the TDA at robinjudd@studeracing.com.au and the ANDRA Tech officer at technical@andra.com.au, but then again you may not want to let facts get in the way of a good story.

Cheers

Simon Cope

NITROUS UNCOMPETITIVE

Regarding your article "Nitrous Banned in Australia Pro-Mod!?", this rule change was made several years ago. You may also be interested to know that there are only two nitrous pro-mod cars in Australia: one built from Reynolds tubing which cannot compete, and the other I have never seen run at all, so certainly neither are competitive. I do agree that this rule change did seem a little strange, to ban a certain type of engine simply for the sake of banning it because there was little interest (???). Realistically, a nitrous car wouldn't be a threat as they would struggle to qualify against a blower car as the overdrive for a Rootes is 70%.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know my opinion...

Kelly Winter
Queensland, Australia

AN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY LESSON

G'day from Australia. Just hoping to comment on the Aussie Pro Mod Nitrous Ban story you have published on the 7th of May. Without wanting to know the name of your source or to guess at their motivations, may I give you a different point of view.

Top Doorslammer grew from class legal AA/G and BB/A race cars, all using Rootes or PSI superchargers. When the class was announced several wannabe racers told ANDRA they planned to campaign Nitrous cars, could they race in the Doorslammer series. The answer was yes, with the reasoning being that the best Aussie blower cars were running 6.5's and Nitrous Pro Mods were running comparible times in the USA, so the expectation was that someone would step up and run a combo, get some support and a fan following, and run some numbers across the country, increasing diversity and appeal for the class. Unfortunately, things did not turn out that way.

As far as I am aware, the fastest N2O car in Australia did not perform at the USA level of comparable USA cars and the teams did not support the National Series by travelling to any events away from their home state. We have never seen one race here in Western Australia and we have staged 2 rounds of the series every year for the last 8 years or so.

Anyone who has watched Pro Mod in the USA is aware of the uncertainty and grief caused by the frequent changes to the rules. Investments are wasted and the sport suffers because no one can plan long term. We feel the same down here, except it costs us even more when the rules get changed.

Last year, there was a renewed push by local teams considering N2O combos to get the rules changed in their favour, changes that would have cost the racers who have been racing and supporting the National Series lots of money. Clearly these racers where not impressed with the suggestions and did not want change. As far as I am aware, they were happy with the status quo and happy to race against an N2O combo if one ever fronted.

As the sports organising body, ANDRA considered these changes and did not see any merit in them. The sports promotors, the Raceway managers across Australia, considered changes to Doorslammer would endanger the appeal of a major draw card the sport has built. They made a point of the fact that the class is identified by their sedan bodies and their mechanically supercharged engines, so they recommended the wording for the should reflect the combinations currently racing in the class. They wanted to ensure stability for the racers and future investors in the sport. I think this was a fine bit of leadership in a sport that is often fragmented and self interested.

So it is not so much a matter of the N2O cars being banned, there simply were not any running in the National Series to ban. Same as Turbo cars, turbine engine cars or any other combo someone may have planned to race in the future.

Of course, this is just the opinion of a commentator from Western Australia. Thanks for your time,

Stu Bond