Toyota Supra dragster set for Hal-Far debut

With the new season now about to start, drag racing enthusiasts and vehicle owners are applying their last polishes and tune-ups ahead of their first runs at the Hal-Far Raceway this weekend.

Gary Curmi is one of them. Better known in local motor sport circles as 'il-Mibrum', he is doing his utmost to complete an ambitious job on his brand new Toyota Supra dragster.

The task was no easy one from all aspects but now many believe this vehicle is projected to clock impressive times in quarter-mile racing with speeds of up to 200 mph.

When I popped up at Joseph Tabone's garage in Gudja, Curmi said his dream to build the first Supra-powered dragster around was now becoming a reality.

Tests were undertaken and the team is looking forward to try out their new dragster in the first event of the Malta Drag Racing Association 2005 programme between tomorrow and Sunday.

The Mibrum Racing Team are not really looking for immediate results this weekend. Rather, they will use the dragster's first runs to evaluate the engine's true potential before applying further tests.

Curmi said: "The team's intentions at present are not really focused on competition and results. We'd rather see how our participation goes first before continuing to test our dragster for further fine tuning.

"This venture had already cost us a fortune... we're still patient though and will not rush to reach our goals.

"We're confident of doing some great runs this year also thanks to the sterling contribution of Tabone's Sieheb Racing Team. They helped us create the world's first Toyota Supra Dragster. This should be an exciting season for all of us."

Curmi's ambitious project got started around three years ago at the Performance Chassis garage of Eddie Muscat at Qormi when the dragster's body and Chrome Molly chassis were first designed.

The straight six-cylinder Supra engine was brought over from US firm Top-End Performance, of California. It was fine-tuned to Curmi's specifications by the renowned Vinney Ten.

Tabone then assembled the engine which was fitted on the dragster.

Tabone will be the official mechanic of the Mibrum Racing Team this year. The Engine Control Unit technician is Greek Mike Charalamous, of Cyprus-based JMC Automotive. He will pass his knowledge on to Tabone as the season progresses. Charalamous will be in Malta to monitor the engine's progress during another MDRA event in April.

For the dragster's first runs at Hal-Far no nitrous oxide will be used except to boost its big custom Turbonetics T76 Turbo for launching. The dragster will run on custom fuel which contains a powerful octane boost mixture produced by VP Imports specifically for Japanese Performance Engines.

The Mibrum Racing Team are also assisted by the sponsorships of Casanova, Total Oils, Dino Signs and JMC Automotive Performance.