Maximum nitro show set for Sydney

Driving her distinctive "croc car", Christine Steffens is one of the few female nitro drivers in the world (Photo courtesy Dave Reid)

Sydney Dragway will be seeing more nitro than ever before at the Nitro Champs on May 3-5 with Top Fuel dragsters, Nitro Funny Cars and Top Bikes all on track and all burning motorsport's most famous fuel.

Among the three drivers performing in Nitro Funny Cars will be Australia's quickest active female drag racer, Queensland's Christine Steffens.

Driving her distinctive "croc car", Steffens is one of the few female nitro drivers in the world and currently the only one in Australia. She forms an even fewer group of nitro-licensed couples in the world as well, with husband Ricky previously driving a Nitro Funny Car.

"I'm really looking forward to rolling on to the track at the Nitro Champs," she said. "This car is great to drive. You don't have to worry about handicaps or anything like that, it is just all out going for the finish line."

Nitro Funny Cars are a rare breed in Australia and make a unique addition to the Nitro Champs as an exhibition category.

"When we got the call to come and do some runs at Sydney Dragway we said hell yeah," said Steffens. "The track there is very good and we will be prepping the car the best we can to make sure we can do some full pulls through to the finish line."

Steffens believes that a new motor the team has received could be a good omen for the event.

"We have a new Brad Anderson engine and hopefully it is a good luck motor because the engine number is the same as my race number," she said. "We will now have our older Keith Black race motor as a spare to keep just in case so we have got our fingers crossed that we put some nice passes in for the Sydney fans."

Alongside Steffens will be WA's Anthony Begley and Sydney local Chris Stipanovich, both of who are capable of low five second passes at over 450kmh.

As well as the spectacle of Nitro Funny Cars, Sydney race fans will also get to enjoy some of the world's quickest Outlaw 10.5 vehicles also doing an exhibition.

Outlaw 10.5 had origins among street car events in the USA and has just a few restrictions – opening doors and a 10.5 inch wide tyre. This means that making power isn't nearly as important as being able to put it down.

Racers who have nominated include Frank Mamone, Paul Moyahet, Mathew Grubisa, Steve Fenech, Jason Donnelly, Jeremy Callaghan and Michelle Davies in a combination of turbocharged, supercharged and nitrous oxide-powered beasts.

Add to these exhibitions rounds of every professional ANDRA category plus the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship and it equals a show not to be missed at the Nitro Champs, May 3-5 at Sydney Dragway.