After a couple year absence from the Sydney Dragway, Australian Top Fuel veteran Terry Sainty was out and about doing some testing recently at the world-renowned facility, but didn’t quite garner the results he and his team were likely after, as his dragster exploded the supercharger (perhaps as a result of a parts failure further down the line) which resulted in a spectacular fireball that no doubt got the attention of the Fast Performance Videos cameraman. And while not the biggest explosion we’ve ever seen by a Top Fueler by any stretch, it looked mighty expensive for the family-owned race team.

Interestingly enough, Sainty, who has been campaigning a Top Fueler in Australia since the 1990’s, is unable to borrow a lot of data and knowledge from his Top Fuel peers around the world to help line out his combination, because he and his team at Sainty Engineering actually build their own, one-of-a-kind billet engines that feature a single overhead camshaft, three-valve cylinder head design instead of the famed Chrysler Hemi-based powerplant like every other modern nitro-burner in existence.

With the billet three-valve motor, Sainty made the first four-second run for any such combination in 2005, and holds the distinction of being the only national event winner with a non-Chrysler based engine in the last two-plus decades.

In addition to the engine — which is a large undertaking all on its own — Sainty Engineering also constructs the chassis and drivelines for the car, making it a true one-off piece of machinery with Sainty’s fingerprints throughout.