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Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S premier motor sport is back for 2015! Sunday March 22 hails the beginning of the Telecel 2015 Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook. Drag racing fans and competitors alike have been starved of drag racing action since the 2014 Grand Finale event last year in October. Sables-Dragpro have been eagerly waiting for the riskier part of the rainy season to pass before launching this year’s series, which sees all last year’s official partners (Telecel, Hp Lubes/Castrol, Turbo Solutions Africa, Financial Gazette and Autobusiness) back on board for yet another exciting year of drag racing.

Four dates have been calendared again for this year’s series and there is already much hype about the upcoming Harare events. The long break has allowed many competitors to prepare their cars and motorcycles for the increasingly competitive event. Racing banter and personal challenges on social media have already begun and whilst many have their own predictions on the outcome of the upcoming race day, only time (elapsed time that is) will tell.

Each event sees the stakes being raised as bikes and cars continue to improve their times with many competitors now taking these drag racing events very seriously. While most competitors race every day with mildly modified vehicles, there are a growing number of competitors that are modifying their vehicles especially for the drag racing strip.

“At least four vehicles will be using nitrous oxide this year, up from only one vehicle last year. Another two vehicles will also be running drag slicks (drag race tyres) this year for the first time. This gives a clear indication of how serious some competitors are getting now and which way the sport is headed.” commented Tyron Ferreira from the Dragpro Club, which runs drag racing in this country.

This year, the club will be introducing a supplementary “Bracket racing” Club Championship to its existing “Class Championship” carried over from last year.

Whilst Class racing depends purely on engine capacity and allows competitors to modify their vehicles to the max in their respective class, Bracket racing bases competition on driver skill and consistency and has nothing to do with engine capacity. In brief, Bracket racing allows the slower of the two vehicles racing each other a head-start equal to the time difference between them (based on qualifying times).

Although simple in principal, there are many regulations in force for Bracket racing to ensure fairness and to avoid competitor advantages based on power or financial budget.

“Bracket racing levels the playing field across the board and will really test driving skills to the max where reaction time and launch techniques are key! At any given bracket racing event, even the slowest vehicle can defeat the fastest by pure driving skill and consistency,” explained Susan Zevgolis from the Dragpro Club.

“Whilst Bracket racing was introduced as a fun non scoring part of the programme last year and proved to be a real crowd pleaser, it also allowed drivers a chance to get a feel of how this event will work for this year, where it will be an integral part of the 2015 series” Ferreira said.

With many cars having been modified over the wet season and the expected return of old champions, the Telecel 2015 Drag Racing Series is set to continue to offer fantastic drag racing yet again.

Old foes and new challengers promise to keep the drag racing action going throughout the day, and with $3 000 plus worth of prizes up for grabs at each event, drivers have a motivation to “put the pedal to the metal” and ensure spectator satisfaction.