MEDIA RELEASE
10th March 2005
Australian drag boat history made with very first Top Fuel Hydro
The National Water Sports Centre in Carrum on Sunday April 3rd will be the venue for the first ever run of a Top Fuel Hydro at the ‘Signature Spas’ Australian National Drag Boat Championships. The Victorian Drag Boat Club Inc. will again host the most sought after titles at the World’s best drag boat racing venue, starting at 10.00am.
For the first time ever in this country, a Top Fuel Hydro will compete, with one of the top owners and drivers in the USA, Ron Braaksma at the wheel. Braaksma has raced Top Fuel Hydros for many years in his string of boats all bearing the ‘MADNESS’ name. Owner Craig Cook from NSW is the brainchild behind the boat, investing countless dollars and time in the state of the art machine. The boat, formerly a Top Fuel Champion from 2003 in the hotly contested International Hot Boat Association (IHBA), was purchased by Cook late last year and has two complete Graham Cowin Top Fuel engines out of his dragster programme. The engines alone are reputed to be 6,000hp each, will be the loudest, most awesome sound never heard before in this country on the water, strapped in a 19’6”, Kurtis Kraft hull from the USA.
The name for the new machine, capable of speeds in excess of 245mph and elapsed times of 4.80 seconds on the Liquid Quarter Mile, is “Nitro Thunder”. Cook’s other boat is a Top Alcohol Hydro called “Thunder from Down Under” which recently ran 213 mph with new driver Paul Madill from NSW at the controls, will also compete in a large class of Top Alcohol Hydros, all capable of 200 mph.
A full field of bracket boats, Unblown and Blown Hydros and Blown Alcohol Flatbottoms will also make the day one never to forget!
Start time is 10.00am, full catering on site, no pets and no glass. Gates open 7.30am. For further details call Alan Joy on 0418 388 898 or Gary James on 0409 550 823 . Alternatively send us an email on info@vdbc.com.
Postscript: View exclusive Nitro Thunder Photo Album on ozSport.com.au