Well it's been a crazy few months for Mariani Family Motorsport. We picked up the race car from Darren Morgan Racing (DMR) in April. Since DMR didn't have the spare parts they needed, we agreed to let them use some of the parts off our car for the next few months until their shipment arrived and both ours and their teams were able to be self sufficient.

May 2013 - The car has colour! I decided to colour it in the old school style of my dads car and to put it lightly, he was awesomely surprised. A huge thank you to my friends at "Pro Signs Wetherill Park" for making this Beast look the part. I think it represents a new age feel with an old Skool touch.

Queensland's Gary Phillips set a new track record en route to number one qualifying position in Top Alcohol on day one of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series at Darwin's Hidden Valley Drag Strip.

Phillips' pass of 5.650 eclipsed the previous track record of 5.685 that was held by Darwin local Scott Maclean.

With 11 cars battling to make it into an eight car race day field, Phillips said he was just glad that he was in the show for Saturday with his Lucas Oils Funny Car.

"As long as we weren't in those ninth, tenth or eleventh spots I didn't care," he said. "We elected to roll the dice and sit out the final session and the time managed to stay number one.

Gary Phillips has a stranglehold on the Top Alcohol championship with just two rounds remaining and this weekend at Hidden Valley Drag Strip could see the Lucas Oils Funny Car driver wrap up his 16th title in the category.

Phillips has a 93 point lead over second placed Steve Reed. If he can leave with anything greater than a 118 point lead over his nearest rival then it's game, set, match for the cagey Queenslander.

But Phillips says the last thing on his mind is championship hunting when there is a wildcard track like Darwin to tackle first.

"It's not my game to look that far ahead. We will go up there with an open mind and do the best we can do. But I'd rather be the target than the arrow," he said.

Australia's quickest current female racer Debbie O'Rourke is hoping her first trip to race at Darwin's Hidden Valley Drag Strip in the ANDRA Drag Racing Series goes off without a 'bang'.

O'Rourke is one of the most experienced racers in the Top Alcohol category and knows the highs of 400kmh passes down the drag strip as well as the lows when things go wrong.

Like most of the other teams attending the historic event, the O'Rourke Motorsport outfit, supported by KTrans WA and 1320 Race Cars, says they will be taking a softer approach to initial runs to get to learn the Hidden Valley track's intricacies.

Steven Ham took his second career win as Gary Phillips wrapped up his 17th ANDRA championship title on a pivotal night of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series at Hidden Valley Drag Strip in Darwin.

Ham's 5.645 second pass in the final defeated a close but losing 5.732 from John Cannuli and in the process moved to second in the championship, albeit out of reach of Phillips' points lead.

The win did not come without its share of drama for Ham, with the team enduring a run of gremlins interfering with the 3500 horsepower East Coast Lubes Funny Car.

"A lot of hard work went into it just to get us to the last round here tonight," he said. "We had no working data logger, no tachometer, oil pressure problems, it was just drama central and we had to put it all out of our minds and just go for it."

The brainchild of creative couple Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler, Upper Middle Bogan tells the tale of two families who live at the opposite ends of the freeway.

Bess Denyar, played by Annie Maynard, is a doctor who comes from a well-to-do family. Or so she thinks...

Sensing she doesn't quite fit in, Bess learns that she is in-fact adopted and her birth parents are Drag Racers, the Wheeler family who live and breathe Top Fuel.

And this is where the fun begins... a clash of cultures in some ways and a coming together in others.

As the cool, dreary winter months wind down, NOW is the right time to purchase your season membership and enjoy pole position for a huge summer of Motorsport Entertainment at Perth Motorplex.
A Perth Motorplex season pass includes entry to all major events at 20% off...plus you get access to all other events for FREE.

A Drag Racing Gold (reserved seating/pit access) or Silver (admission with pit paddock access) season pass gets you FREE parking a complimentary program and access to all major events days at a 20% discount. Plus you get into ALL Formula Tech Whoop Ass Wednesdays, ALL Autotrader Fast Racing Series events, both Nostalgia Drags AND the Kwinana Performance Holden v Ford for FREE!

After many months of development a demo version of the Time Slip Simulator is ready to be put to the test...

So what is it?

The Time Slip Simulator (TSS) is a revolutionary new tool for drag racers. BUT, it's also more than that.

Through TSS, fans, sponsors and crew chiefs can interact with the most powerful motorsport on the planet.

Imagine being able to re-run and watch the last pass in virtual reality, either at the track or anywhere else around the world. TSS can do this plus much much more.