HIT FOR SIX

GLORIOUS RB30 POWER SENT ZAC SHEPHERD'S DEBUTANT LJ TORANA TO SECOND IN TUFF MOUNTS 235 BLOWN AT DRAG CHALLENGE 2023

YEAR after year, fresh homebrewed cars line up to have a crack at Drag Challenge. While they can't all collect an 'I survived' sticker at the end, some nail it first-try, like Zac Shepherd's LJ sedan.

The 28-year-old has owned the little Holden since he was 14, which checks out when you learn he grew up in a drag-racing family in the seaside town of Portland, just minutes away from South Coast Raceway.

"The car was pretty well a roller [when we started], and we got it done with a hot 179 and an Aussie four-speed," Zac says. "That did me for a while, but then I wanted to make it more fun for when I was off my Ps."

The solution was another straight six, just not from Holden. "We went with an RB30 because it was the easiest engine to get engineered and make power with," Zac says. "Dad and I built the car at home in the shed, racing it regularly at the local dragstrip."