The second-generation gasser screamed his Hydraulink Black Mamba into the record books with a stunning pass that saw the front wheels off the ground and the car headed towards the centre line and the concrete wall more often than not.
“Ideally I was probably going to shut off at half-track,” a smiling Phil Read admitted later, “but I knew by the way the harness was pulling on my helmet that we were on to something.
“The car was hardly ever in the centre of the lane and I was sawing at the steering wheel for almost the entire run. I knew it was quick but I didn’t expect it to be quite that quick.”
Read posted an historic 3.725s, eclipsing back-to-back NDRC Top Fuel Australian Champion Damien Harris’ 3.733s from last season at the same venue.
“Dragway at The Bend is one of the premier facilities in the world not just Australia,” beamed Read. “The surface is just so smooth and the venue is world class. We previously ran our PB there last season and now this 3.72s just reaffirms it for me. I love this place.”
By his own admission, the 3.72s at 318.79mph (522kph) pass was the first complete pass since May of this year at his hometown event ‘The Nitro Champs’ in Sydney.
“Thinking back on it I haven’t had a full pass since the Nitros,” he said. “We had some major blow ups at the Winternationals in June and so coming into this event at The Bend I was probably underdone as a driver. We certainly turned that around though.”
The single test session and first qualifier on the Saturday gave no indication that Read would be on a tear for the final session with the throttle stop coming off each time on the burnout and nothing to write home about in the two passes.
“We’d had our issues for sure to begin with, and then from out of nowhere we ripped,” he explained. “My brother Bruce has been working on this tune-up for a year now since coming back in 2023 collaborating with Clay Millican and Jim Oberhofer so we knew we had something there we just had to get everything lined up.”
‘Read and Read’ (Phil and Bruce) and the Jim Read Racing team faced a mystery electrical issue during the fire up on race day but managed to solve the problem in time for Round 1 where they won against a huge unfortunate fireball in Damien Harris (for the second time in a row) to run a 3.79s, then click off a 3.83s against an early shut off for Kyle Putland in Round Two.
The Read team had even loaned parts for Putland to show up against them in the lead-up.
The final saw Read face fellow Sydneysider Wayne Newby and the JRR ‘Socket to Breast Cancer Snap-On Tools’ backed Mamba ripped to a 3.76s in winning the Spring Nationals.
“That proves (the record) wasn’t a fluke!” enthused Read after taking the victory.
“It felt good, it felt really good from start to finish, it just took off and it was flying; smooth as.
“A 3.76s is great, we thought it would run 3.77s. I think we are starting to get a handle on this at this track, so hopefully we can keep it going!”
The benchmark Rapisarda Autosport International Team will now look for redemption in January at Willowbank after a series of uncharacteristic major explosions for Harris and Newby.
“They’ll be back,” said Read, “you can’t keep a team like the Rapisardas down for long. We know they’ll be coming for us at Willowbank.”
Phil Read now leads the Top Fuel Australian NDRC points with 149 over Newby in second with 115, Kyle Putland on 66 and Damien Harris on 16.
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