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                                                               RATZILLA   RUMBLES

The long awaited RATZILLA Twin-Engine Fiat Topolino exhibition car of Graham “Zooman” Slapp ballooned the baggies on the drag strip for the first time in August 2000. The impressive tire-smoker was let off the leash at Willowbank Raceway during a private testing session and confirmed the theoretical capabilities of the car despite damaging a crankshaft in the front motor.

  The two supercharged big block Chevys are coupled by a duplex chain on two sprockets bolted to the crankshafts. The bolts holding the sprocket on the back of the front motor came loose and tried to spread the motors apart. The front crankshaft was shoved hard forward in the block at over 7000 RPM, damaging the thrust surfaces.

  “The bolts came loose because I forgot to Loctite them - I just hate it when that hunk of metal is smarter than I am!” lamented the Zooman.

  Apart from the bolt problem, the shakedown session was very encouraging. The Zooman reported that he felt very comfortable with the cars handling, and delighted with initial performance – “Ratzilla lit up the track like an Air France Concorde” he said. The very first burnout was a whopper, and bespoke well for the vehicles expected full track performances.

  Crank repairs were duly completed, but not without further dramas. The crank shop lost the crank! It finally turned up at an Army Base warehouse about 2000 km from where it should have been – but in the ensuing three month search, we decided to buy a new one. Several bottles of industrial strength Loctite were used to prevent repeating such un-cool mechanical stuff-ups and the team returned to the track to complete the performance testing and licensing program.

METAL MICKEY MOTORSPORT

Unit 43 – 211 Brisbane Rd, Labrador,  QLD,  4215

Phone:  (07) 5537 8866   Fax:  (07) 5537 8350   Mobile:  0407 769 132

E-mail: [email protected]

METAL MICKEY MOTORSPORT

Unit 43 – 211 Brisbane Rd, Labrador,  QLD,  4215

Phone:  (07) 5537 8866   Fax:  (07) 5537 8350   Mobile:  0407 769 132

E-mail: [email protected]