THE CHALLENGE IS REAL

FROM TRACK DRAMAS TO SOARING TEMPERATURES, DRAG CHALLENGE 2024 THREW US SOME OF ITS TOUGHEST TESTS YET, BUT IT ALSO BROUGHT SOME OF THE QUICKEST TIMES THE EVENT HAS EVER SEEN

- KIAN HEAGNEY & SIMON TELFORD

1 SIGN-IN DAY CALDER PARK RACEWAY, VICTORIA

THE toughest drag-and-drive marathon in Australia, Street Machine Drag Challenge returned in a big way in 2024, with arguably the quickest field we've ever seen soldiering up for five days of hardcore racing, with an interstate road leg spanning some 2000km in between. We'd be starting on Melbourne's outskirts at Calder Park Raceway, heading north-west to Mildura, into South Australia to Dragway at The Bend, and then back into the heart of Victoria to Heathcote Park Raceway. We were also running a couple of weeks later in spring than last year's Drag Challenge, so high temperatures would be an issue all week.

With two certified six-second machines in the mix this year, this was probably the first time in Drag Challenge history that having a seven-second car didn't guarantee you a spot in the overall top 10. The anticipation had been building for months, and we were all foaming at the mouth to get stuck in.

But before we could get to the juicy parts of Drag Challenge, first we had to get everyone stickered up, safety-checked and signed in on rego day at Calder Park Raceway. This year was a bit different for us, as Scotty Taylor relinquished his usual role of race director in order to experience his first DC as a fully fledged entrant, piloting our 1100rwhp, twin-turbo LS-powered 'Grimace' VS Commodore ute in the PSR 8.5 Radial class. Filling in for Scotty in managing the staging lanes and results spreadsheet was our publisher Simon Telford and long-time SM journo Boris Viskovic.