Australian drag racing star Paul Mouhayet, whose fearless fortitude behind the wheel has earned him notoriety around the world, is set to join his home nations’ premier full-bodied eliminator in the coming weeks with an all-new, state-of-the-art Ford Mustang out of Jerry Bickel Race Cars in Missouri.
Mouhayet and the Moits Racing camp have championed the cause of turbocharged combinations in their native land over the last handful of seasons, setting speed and elapsed time records first on 10-inch tires before turning their attention to the world of Pro Modified. That venture brought them stateside as they teamed with Pro Line Racing to campaign their 2013 Ford Mustang in which they once held the outright world speed record at 274 and change.
In 2016, they returned to Australia with their record-setting machine, but have been relegated to competition in Outlaw Extreme — not Top Doorslammer, which is the creme de la crop of fast door car racing ‘down under’ and internationally recognized for its fierce competition (but doesn’t permit turbocharged combinations to compete). Ultimately, Moits and Mouhayet couldn’t resist the temptation to take on the best Australia has to offer, and so they did something about it.
“You want to beat the best when you race. In this country the best door car driver and team is John Zappia and Zappia Racing,” Mouhayet states. “We’ve done great things with the turbo cars, but after all we’ve done, the Pro Mod deal hasn’t taken off here. And for us to race against the best on home soil we needed to go down this road.”
Moits racing tabbed Bickel to construct a 1968 Fastback Mustang that’s powered by a 520-inch Pro Line Hemi with a PSI screw supercharger, backed with a three-speed Lenco transmission. The car is both ANDRA and IHRA Australia legal for Top Doorslammer.
Presently in transit from North America to Australia, once the Mustang arrives it will be set up and tested for its scheduled debut at the Nitro Up North event, part of the ANDRA and 400 Thunder Pro Series at Hidden Valley Drag Strip in Darwin, Northern Territory, on July 21-22.
Noted supercharged tuner Billy Stocklin, who has a hand in the success of many of the sport’s great drivers, will be making the trek to Oz to assist Moits Racing in getting up to speed, literally and figuratively, during their debut.