I was told that there was going to be an Australian drag week style event in 2014 and frankly I lost track of it and was happily surprised to find some cool video of the goings on plunked right there on the YouTube page of Street Machine Magazine. The VPW Drag Challenge 2014 was the first ever event of its kind in Australia and the guys at Street Machine are straight up front when they tell you that this thing was totally inspired by DW here in the USA. How cool is that? The best part of this whole deal is that “wanting” to have an event like this anywhere is a big undertaking but actually pulling it off is even sweeter, especially the first one. The VPW Drag Challenge 2014 had LOTS of similarities to the first Drag Week held here in 2005. For starters, overall winner Quentin Feast averaged 8.73 over the course of the event where Carl Scott averaged in the 8.50s in 2005 to win DW. Those times are totally in the ball park of each other and what will happen there is just like what happened here. Evolution, baby! Their road laws will not permit unilmited entries like we have here but still, quicker and faster will be the order of the day.
The other big similarity was the small and intimate feel of the thing. Street Machine invited 50 cars. 18 had the stones to show up and give it a go. Here in the USA, Hot Rod threw the gates open to anyone that would come and it was about 41 cars that were in the pits at KCIR the first year. Again, now that the first one is out of the way, there will be loads of people applying to be a part of the fun. This video takes us on a five minute trip through the event and it serves as a teaser for an upcoming 45-minute film of the whole week. The spirit, tired faces, and fun factor will be very familiar to anyone who has followed or participated in the USA version.
Congrats to all the competitors at the 2014 VPW Drag Challenge. We hope that your event grows and prospers like DW has here in the USA!
Lies!
None of this is real, all the cars are right-side up!
The toilets also flush counter – clockwise!
I thought the trailers pulled the cars!
More power to you,Aussies and Kiwis !
This is another example of Australia being about 8-10 years behind the U.S. in certain things.
I love you,Australians and New Zealanders,for a lot of reasons.
I was an entrant in this event and loved it ! As a long time admirer of drag week in the US, the chance to do this was too good to pass up. Cant wait for the next one.
Hi guys, glad you liked the event. After watching Hot Rod Drag Week we had to do something similar and you’re right there are a lot of similarities to the first Drag Week. The times were similar, the fact that it was small and intimate (we kept it secret so we didn’t get ambushed by the cops) and we also started and finished in very different places.
Next year will be bigger and better and we’ll start and finish in the same spot to make it a little easier for people to compete. Thank for the share.