THE BEGINNING... AND NOW

Why Drag Racing?

Robin was undecided about the type of Motorsport he wanted to get into until about a year before he bought the Studebaker. Over a short period of time Robin became hooked on the brute horsepower and exhilarating speed while watching drag race meetings at local track Ravenswood (note this track was closed when Quit Motorplex Kwinana was built).

Why Top Doorslammer?

Not having been involved in Dragracing before, the intention was to start with a gas (naturally aspirated) drag car. That was until Robin met up with Gary Miocevich and Peter Pike from Ravenswood Raceway in a Perth Airport lounge while waiting to board a flight to Melbourne to go watch the 1997 Calder Nationals. After a long discussion Robin was convinced that moving straight into a supercharged bracket was the way to go and Top Doorslammer was the most exciting bracket. History has proved that to be correct decision. Doorslammer was the newest and most exciting class of Drag Racing in Australia, for a number of reasons. The production styled bodies enabled fans to identify with the vehicles, the times were fast, burnouts spectacular and personalities like Victor Bray had already stamped a "must see" tag amongst Drag Racing fans. Today Top Doorslammer is one of the most popular brackets in Australian Dragracing.

Learning The Ropes

Gary Miocevich (owner of Quit Motorplex formerly Ravenswood Raceway) introduced Robin to Bob Lush, co-owner of the "Boston Strangler" now GM Performance Parts TA/FC, for advice and assistance in the venture. Bob and his brother Peter operate Applied Automotive Engineering, a business which specialises in reconditioning high performance engines. Bob, Peter and head machinist Ian Brown (Also their F/C driver) were only too happy to help. They gave Robin and (later) Lee the benefit of their experience and contacts plus invited them to stay in the pits at drag meetings. This proved invaluable as many of the procedures used now by the Studebaker Racing Co were learned on the grass at Ravenswood from the Lush Brothers.

The Saturday morning after each race event was usually spent tearing down and checking the Lush Brothers 540 cube KB Hemi motor. Robin and Lee watched this with intensity.

Victor Bray was delighted Robin had chosen Top Doorslammer as the bracket to race in and offered his help in any way he could. He helped Robin with the ultimate engine choice (Hemi) and introduced him to Scotty Cannon.

The Studebaker

In mid 1997, a few months after the Nationals, the pearl white Studebaker Top Doorslammer rolling chassis was advertised for sale. Robin had seen the then unique and impressive looking drag car at the 1996 Nationals and couldn’t believe his luck. At that time the sleek machine was only a few months old, having been owned and driven by George Clasby. George was a good friend of Murray Anderson and had him build the car to agreed specifications. What makes the Moonshine Bandit special to them was the fact that it was the first. There have been others built since but we have the original.

Clasby lost to Bray by only a small margin in the semi final round of the first Australian Nationals to host Top Doorslammer as a Group One bracket.

The rolling chassis and drive line was later sold to friend and fellow drag racer Raff Pironti (pictured right) in a deal where Clasby supplied the motor and technical back up. Raff had previously run a blown Holden Torana and wanted to step up to Top Doorslammer. He ran the car for a few months until an engine blow up ended his deal with Clasby. Pironti was forced to decide either to invest in a new motor or give it away. Lucky for Robin, he decided he had had enough.

Meanwhile ...

Robin owned a 1977 Porsche 930 Turbo having bought it in 1994 as a toy in need of repair. It was shipped to Perth from Sydney (where it had been owned by another mild mannered accountant) and restored with the help of people like crew member and motor trimmer Eric Gaudieri. Robin promised his wife Lynne that he would sell the Porsche before he got involved with another mechanical obsession. As luck would have it, when he told Pironti he needed to sell the Porsche before he could buy the Studebaker, Raff said he wanted to buy a Porsche after he sold the Studebaker. After many telephone discussions with Pironti, Murray Anderson (car builder), and George Clasby the deal went ahead in November 1997.

LEARNING TO DRIVE; GETTING HELP FROM THE PRO'S

In late 1997 IHRA champion Scotty Cannon toured Australia at the invitation of Victor Bray and the track promoters. Robin was fortunate to get to know Scotty when he visited Perth and, an invitation to visit him at his home in South Carolina.

In early 1998 Robin flew to the USA to attend Frank Hawley's Dragracing School. Frank is a veteran Top Fuel dragracer who, with Austin Coil (now John Force’s Crew Chief) won many races in the USA NHRA circuit. The course was split into two parts. Part one involved learning the basics of dragracing and driving a 600hp Pontiac Firebird (9 seconds over quarter mile) and Super Comp Dragster (8 seconds). Part two was the introduction to supercharged alcohol racing in a Top Alcohol 2500hp funny car capable of low 6's. The step up in class proved to be a huge challenge with Robin achieving 6.6 seconds on his last pass. The addiction had well and truly set in now with Robin returning to Perth to continue the journey.

Between the two driving courses, Robin flew to South Carolina to visit with Scotty Cannon whom he met while Cannon raced Australia at the end of 1997. Coincidentally Cannon raced a similar Studebaker and impressed Robin as someone who could be a good mentor. Cannon was happy to help with advice. At the time the merits of the two main types of superchargers was being discussed. Robin took Cannon’s lead and asked him to set up a supercharger and fuel system similar to his. Meanwhile still in the USA, Robin met Lee-Anne Anderson from BAE who introduced him to NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car Champion Frank 'Ace' Manzo who had a Keith Black 511 cube motor for sale. A month or so later the motor and fuel system arrived in Perth. That original combination with Cannon tune up stood the test of time for the first few years of racing and we still run the same basic motor configuration.

The rest is history ...

The New Body

In late 2005 the new 1959 Studebaker was unveiled:



The new body is light weight carbon fibre construction and has a rear wing instead of the traditional deck. The changes have helped the team maintain quicker and consistent elapsed times and faster top end speeds.

Developments

Since the early days a lot of changes have been made to the car and the way the team operates. These include:

• KB motors from cast stage 7, to 10, then 15 and now to 16 (forged).
• Supercharger from rootes style to PSI
• Ignition system from Mallory to MSD Pro Mag
• Old Style Racepack data logger to Cygnus datastar
• Brake action from foot to hand operation
• Completely new carbon fibre body (including moulds)
• Rear deck to wing
• 1953 to 1959 Studebaker
• Strengthening of main rear chassis rails, diff housing, rear and front suspension.
• Finding solutions to motor and drive line damage problems (rear main bearing, push rods, tail shaft)
• Larger fire system (rule change)
• Stroud spring activated chutes
• Subtle livery changes - always keeping signature white base colour.
• Moving from shared to own dedicated workshop
• Addition of new crew/race car manager
• Lockup clutch installed
• Carbon brakes
• Radio communications
• Back up crew trained in all states
• Original 1998 crew is still with the team