PETER Xiberras’ journey towards becoming the fastest man in Australian motorsport began than two decades ago in a Chevrolet-powered Ford Capri.
Xiberras will tonight gun for a third successive national Top Fuel title, after overseeing his PremiAir Racing Supercars team during the day at Hidden Valley.
Entering the drag racing season decider trailing Damien Harris, Xiberras showed well last night by topping qualifying.
But back to how it all started…
“I had a ‘32 Roadster and I was trying to have a show car, a drag car and a road car in one and it wasn’t working out too well,” Xiberras chuckled to V8 Sleuth.
“So I bought, of all things, a Ford Capri and just fell in love with it.”
Xiberras made his debut in that Capri, which boasted a 400 SB (small block) Chevrolet engine, at Bodangora Drag Strip in country New South Wales.
“With drag racing it’s like any sort of motorsport… when I first started I was running 10-second passes and then you want to get to a nine, and then you want to get to a 9.8, and then you want to get to a 9.6 and it just doesn’t stop,” he added.
Two years ago, Xiberras broke the all-time Australian drag racing record for a 1000ft pass with a 3.74-second effort at Willowbank Raceway.
Tonight, he’ll be reaching speeds in excess of 500km/h.
Xiberras has a passion for both Supercars and drag racing – but only top-tier skills behind the wheel for the latter.
“I have been drag racing a long time; you can’t just step into one of those cars and be good at it unless you’re an exceptional sort of person,” he said.
“It’s the same as Supercars, like how many guys have been racing all their lives and built their way up to it?
“For me, I enjoy drag racing because I’m sort of okay at it I suppose, whereas if I tried my hand at Supercars I’d be bloody shocking.
“I still love both of them, I still love being involved with it, but yeah, drag racing is my thing because I can actually go out and do it.”
So what makes a good drag racer?
“It’s reaction time, it’s control of the car,” Xiberras said.
“The thing is with a drag car, the car is that quick, you’re reacting rather than controlling the situation.
“So most of what you do, you’re not thinking about what you’re doing, you’re just reacting, whereas I think Supercars you’re hopefully in control of the car.
“Drag racing is almost the opposite.”
Three rounds of Top Fuel racing will take place tonight, scheduled for 5:30pm, 7:48pm and 10:01pm (all local time).
Live coverage will be shown on 7plus from 6pm AEST.
