It’s always unnerving when you are preparing to run a new car for the first time, isn’t it? You have bench-raced every aspect of the car, you know where the motor is power-wise, the suspension is as good as you’re gonna get without lining up, and all that’s left to do is to get to the track and shake it out. Dave and Ange Hellyer’s Holden Torana LH is a beauty just sitting still, thanks to the work that JL Racecars put into it, but it wasn’t built to sit still. It was built to be a brilliant yellow rocket in the quarter-mile, and sooner or later someone has to strap in and give it a go. We don’t know if this was the car’s first run ever or not, but all of the classic signs of a shakedown are present: first, just a hit off of the line to make sure the car isn’t going to do anything stupid when the light goes green, then a parachute test at a moderate speed, and finally, the moment everyone who has invested something into the car has been waiting for, the WFO run. The car has since run an 8.05@158 miles per hour, with a 1.17 sixty foot time. Click play below to watch this beauty go!
