Home » Community » People » Victor Bray

Blog : Six-time National Champion lifted the veil off his vibrant looking 1957

5
votes

Victor Bray
Brisbane

Like it? Vote it up!

Oct 12

Six-time National Champion lifted the veil off his vibrant looking 1957

Team Bray Racing have revealed the exciting new look for remainder of its 2008-2009 ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship campaign as the team was unveiled in Bathurst as part on the Supercheap Auto 1000 festivites.

Its unveiling also heralded an extension to Castrol's long term sponsorship of Australian drag racing icon Victor Bray and the expansion of that agreement that will see Victor flying the Castrol flag again in 2009.

"Castrol and Team Bray have evolved together over the past 20 years. The refreshing new livery is a testament to a heritage underpinned by new developments and breakthrough technology. Our latest advancement is to the Castrol EDGE range of engine oils. With new and improved formulations the range provides our consumers with that extra level of performance they're looking for." Andrew Johnson - Marketing Director

Team patriarch Victor Bray was understandably thrilled when the covers came off the team cars - his infamous '57 Chevy and Ben's Monaro CV8Z - to reveal the team's striking new Castrol Edge livery.

"We couldn't be any happier than we are today unveiling these cars and making this announcement - the cars look fantastic and the news is exciting," Victor said.

"This is our 20^th season in partnership with Castrol and their importance to our Drag Racing programme is reflected in their prominence on the cars.

"My 1957 Chevy has a vibrant new green, red and white (and some black) livery reminiscent of the old days which blends perfectly with the outlook of the team,"

"Team Bray has grown as, Castrol have taken their Castrol EDGE range to a whole new level of performance, proving that the range is superior to other synthetic oils when pushed to the limit under extreme conditions. When we first joined together back in the early '90s Castrol was promoting GP50, while we were just amateurs running an old '57 Chevy in the sportsman Super Stock class.

"When GP50 later became known as Castrol Formula R the sport had stepped up quite a bit and we had moved into the professional ranks for the first time running the new ANDRA Top Doorslammer class.

"Now as Formula R has evolved into the Castrol Edge range, Team Bray Racing has grown into a professional, fully-supported multi-car team for my son, Ben and me to contest various ANDRA Australian Championships."

Bray said his relationship with Castrol was far deeper than just a monetary sponsorship.

"It is not a coincidence that since our relationship began together we have won nine Australian Championships, set close to 200 local, national and international records and until recently we continued to hold the world speed record for Top Doorslammers at nearly 400km/h.

"Believe me when I say that none of our success would have ever been possible without assistance of Castrol and its technical department, particularly Neil McTavish.

Now in its 13th season, the exciting and spectacular Top Doorslammer class has almost exclusively been the domain of the Bray family with Victor winning six consecutive titles from 1996-2001 and 17 national event victories in 36 final round appearances.

As a 17-year-old Ben set a world record as the youngest ever professional drag racing champion by clinching the 2003 title in his first full season of racing and he then set another world record for the most consecutive round wins in a professional class (at 24 wins) when he secured his second Top Doorslammer title.

Ben is fast closing in on his father, with 14 national event victories from 18 final round appearances.

While Ben has recorded a quicker personal best elapsed time for the standing quarter-mile (5.916secs compared to 6.010), Victor remains the ‘King of Speed’ at 245.77mph (394.57km/h).

The first trip down the quarter mile for Team Bray with the new livery will be the Golden States - Australian Top Doorslammer Championship Round 2. at Perth Motorplex - Kwinana Beach WA on November 14th & 15th 2008