It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a veteran; Cootamundra takes no prisoners. For one weekend a year, this quiet airport is where — after months of late nights and hard work at Australia's biggest tuners — the country's most extreme road-legal cars make themselves a temporary home.
The Motive DVD Drag Battle is as exclusive as it is notorious. There are no grandstands full of spectators here, and entrants need at least a nine-second slip time to be considered for a slot on the start line. Even then, cars in the least power-hungry class need to be making more than 670 hp at the wheels, and only 70 of them make the cut. Tough criteria for a road registered street-legal car, with full interior trim.
It doesn’t get any easier once you’re inside. Conditions vary, and Cootamundra’s un-prepped, low-friction asphalt means grip levels can change constantly during a run. Anyone who knows the event knows that a fast time here is the best reflection of on-road performance you can get, without risking your license.
Rivalry is intense here; the only people on site are car owners and the workshops behind the builds, making final trackside adjustments to shed fractions of seconds. It’s a link back to the event’s origins in 2009 as a Motive DVD film shoot for GT-R enthusiasts: Instead of inviting spectators, all the action is filmed and released as a DVD afterwards, with the results closely guarded until it goes on sale.
Chris Skinner was a newcomer, but came well armed. Built by Croydon Racing Developments, the R35 GT-R’s combination of weight reduction, chassis upgrades and massive power put down a 9.3-second run at 156 mph on 20-inch road-legal rubber — seriously quick for a daily driver and only outrun by street-legal drag cars. Reliable enough to spend all weekend on the strip without flinching, it’s a hint that we’re years away from seeing the limits of the R35.
You can’t get far at Coota before you bump into a project from the Maatouks Racing stable. After four sleepless days, Anthony Maatouk and the team brought 13 cars to this year’s event resulting in three of the top five quickest cars, all well into the eight-second bracket — including a new record 8.4-second pass for their own car, King R32.
“We only had two passes all weekend,” Anthony told us. “We’re aiming for a seven-second pass. It’s possible, but we’re not sure how we’ll stop on this surface.”
Sydney-based Honda specialist BYP Racing set out to beat the four-cylinder, two-wheel-drive record with an affordable drag car, based around a heavily-boosted K24 engine. Realising that would be tough with front-wheel drive, owner Benny Tran picked up a cheap SW20 MR2 chassis to show what the drivetrain was capable of. Just three weeks in the making and with only two more for testing, it managed a 10.1-second run at 153 mph, with hopes of getting into the nines next year.
Jake Gatt took the GT-R Challenge win, his R32 managing an 8.9-second run at 162 mph. Fresh out of the Maatouks Racing workshop, it’s packing a stroked RB32, putting 882 bhp through a Turbo-400 transmission.
“It’s fast and reliable, but it’s been very hard to predict the grip level here,” he said. “It feels good, but it fishtails. We’ll try new tyres, and I’ll get back out next year and see if I can do it again.”
It’s tough at the top. John Apostolopolous’s R32 is a well-known, seven-second car on a prepared drag strip, as well as a former winner at Cootamundra. It’s brought the build down to details. In the last 12 months, CV Performance designed a new turbo setup and downsized to 15-inch rims to give more sidewall within the same 26-inch diameter.
“Since last year we’ve done a 7.87 in the dragstrip," John said, "and now we’re pushing the limits."
The fastest GT-R at last year’s event, "JUN II" and owner Robert Marjan came to Coota with a title to defend. Having gone beyond the limits of traction, Croydon Racing Developments spent the last year fine-tuning the power delivery, carefully ramping boost up in the mid- and top-end of the range to make it easier to launch. It worked — a 183 mph closing speed put it 15 mph ahead of last year’s best run, and 5 mph ahead of winner Maatouk’s best. And that’s on radials, not slicks.
There aren’t many EG Civics with a north-south cam cover under the hood. Redsun Motorsport of Sydney crammed a full S15-spec SR20 drivetrain into this one, putting all the power to the rear wheels. And it’s not just the running gear; getting the geometry right meant transferring the Silvia’s shock towers, suspension and brakes into the Honda body. Still in the testing phase, its first competition was a chance to get as much data as possible ready for fine-tuning later on.
Paul Torony’s S13 had won the rear-wheel-drive class in 2012, before getting a full GT-R four-wheel-drive conversion with an OS Giken transmission. It’s taken a few years to get right, but 9.5 seconds at 164 mph is back where it should be. At 43 psi of boost, it’s making 960 hp from the SR20, and Paul says it’s good for 1,070 hp with it turned up to 49 psi. Beyond that, traction on the Coota’s rough surface starts to get tricky.
Ender Esenyel’s S13 isn’t only home to a 2JZ swap and two-speed Powerglide transmission. JDM Industries of Melbourne also found room for a huge Garrett GT47 turbo, pushing power up to 800 hp at 35 psi. It’s a show-standard, all-boxes-ticked car — designed for drag racing but street registered and regularly driven on the road.
“Once we’re at 50 psi, it should make 1,070 hp,” he said. “We’ll get it down, no stress.”
Check out the gallery below for more behind-the-scenes footage.
And because everything is better in motion, look for the Motive DVD Drag Battle on sale now!
(Story: Alex Grant / Photos: Alastair Ritchie)