"VAN" (Sports Desk - 05.05.2025) :: Hydraulink Jim Read Racing has walked away from the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway with a new personal best ET of 3.712 seconds over the 1000ft distance.
The team actually set two PBs in the two days of Top Fuel being on track at this event, part of the 2024/2025 NDRC Australian Top Fuel Championship.
During Saturday qualifying, driver Phil Read blazed down the track for a 3.719 second pass at 325.61mph for a new PB in a field so competitive that a time which only weeks ago would have been a new Australian record was the third quickest of the day.
Come race day, a broken wire on a magneto undermined the team’s round one outing (6.866/100.91mph) against eventual event winner Larry Dixon, but it was in round two that the Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Top Fuel Dragster really shone for the packed crowd.
On a bye run, the team well and truly sent it, with Phil reaching the finish line in 3.712 seconds at 321.04mph.
It was a bittersweet result for Phil and the crew however, with a dropped valve as they hit the finish line causing the supercharger to be blown off for a spectacular fireball.
After an intense turnaround, it was time for a B-Final run against Damien Harris, however unfortunately it was a case of another ‘20 cent’ part undermining their potential when a brake calliper broke, seeing them without brakes following the burnout and forced to continue down the length of the track for no time recorded.
Even with this frustration, the Hydraulink Jim Read Racing team is focusing on the positives.
“A PB is always good and we set two of those this weekend, so that is really promising,” Phil Read said.
“In the final run we had an issue with the brake calliper right before the run and when I did the burnout I had no brakes.
“It was definitely disappointing after the passes of Saturday and earlier on Sunday, and after setting PBs at the last round as well.
“You can never say you lucked into a win in Top Fuel; you have to be lucky just to get down the track in these explosive missiles!
“It has been fantastic though to race in front of two huge crowds this weekend and while things might not have gone our way lately, I can tell you, this thing is a rocket ship! Watch this space.”
Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Crew Chief, Bruce Read, echoed his brother Phil’s comments.
“We are definitely encouraged by the gains we have made and have demonstrated with those PBs – we have an awesome hot rod, there is no doubt about that, and I am really excited about it,” Bruce said.
“We need a bit of luck to go our way with these small parts though – it was a bit like our weekend in Adelaide where we had all the potential but kept coming undone due to small part failures.
“When it blew the blower belt in round one today it was going even quicker than it did on the 3.71 run – so there is plenty more in it as well.
“It might be another weekend of what could’ve been, but there are a lot of positives too. And it was fantastic to once again race in front of a mammoth Sydney crowd, and to host our guests from Hydraulink with 120 of them joining us here over the two days.”
Hydraulink Jim Read Racing will next be on-track for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals in June (June 5-8) ahead of the just announced Grand Final, the Nitro Nationals, at Sydney Dragway on August 23.
“The Nitro Nationals Grand Final event is going to be awesome. We absolutely cannot wait,” Phil added.
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