Zoqdi Racecar Breaks 300 Kilometres Per Hour And Wins £5,000 At Doorslammers Drag Racing Event

By Pawlu Caruana

Attard's famous Zoqdi Racing Team competed at the Santa Pod raceway, "the UK's Most Action Packed Venue", for the Doorslammers drag racing event – where Zoqdi won its hotly contested six cylinder class.

"We were very competitive from the very start, as there was only one car that could have given us a run for our money," Marty Camilleri, a Zoqdi team engineer, told Lovin Malta.

With an entry fee of just £275 – and the additional cost of building a car capable of winning – Zoqdi earned a £5,000 prize for their victory.

"The spectators loved the car as it did make an impression – partly because maybe its a modified mark 1 Escort that made a lot of noise, apart from being very fast."

Zoqdi managed to clinch first place, despite being in a "very competitive class" which saw "various cars running similar times".

In a qualifying round, the Zoqdi car clocked a top speed of 187 miles per hour – just exceeding an incredible 300 kilometre per hour speed over the quarter mile distance covered.

They managed to top that speed once back in Malta – and though the team was aiming to run in the six second zone in the UK, "usual technical problems prevented that" from happening.

Covering a quarter mile in just over seven seconds is a pretty impressive "consolation" prize.

These may have resulted from the unpredictable process of shipping a car across an entire continent, and preparing it for race conditions well in advance of the competition.

"Our car was ready to race in about April, as we had engine and gearbox refreshed just before it got shipped."

Malta is a country which houses – in my opinion – far too many unqualified would-be-racers, using residential streets as their own personal racetracks, often to fatal effect.

Though racing can be dangerous, engineers take every possible precaution to assess and minimise risk to their drivers.

Seeing a Maltese racing team succeed at reaching incredible speeds safely in the right overseas setting is a refreshing taste of what could be – if the rest of us could limit our high-speed shenanigans to a more appropriate time and place.

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"We clocked a best time of 7.140 second with, a trap speed of 189mph, back in November here in Malta. The Semi Final race was the most competitive as we had all weekend as we raced against a very strong opponent – which was ultimately won by the best driver."

Despite this vehicle having exceeded a speed of 300 kilometres per hour, Zoqdi's car is no spring chicken – even if many of its parts have been replaced time and again in recent years.

"The car was built around 30 years ago, and always gets modified as time goes by to keep it up to standard."

"A lot of parts need changing as they get old or wear out, and most of our parts are second hand and what we can't buy we make them ourselves. "

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"This is not the first time we raced abroad, but to be honest this experience was second to none."

"Building and preparing a car to race takes a lot of effort financially and physically, and the fact that we have raced against teams that are far superior to us in terms of access to resources – and we beat them at their own game – is something I can't describe with words."

Though Zoqdi are thrilled about this victory, and about the show they put on for fans at the Santa Pod raceway, they’re in it for more than the accolades.

"Motorsport racing is not just about winning. It's about building a team and having fun together."

"The driver, Gary Camilleri, who happens to be my brother, was under a lot of pressure. Apart from winning… he had to not disappoint the team" joked Marty, taking the opportunity to sneak a little jibe in at his brother.

"Drag racing doesn't forgive, one little mistake and you’re out of the game. That's probably what makes it so exciting."

Marty said he had a lot of people to thank, and didn't want to miss any out.

Instead, he thanked all of Zoqdi's sponsors, while half-jokingly adding "please keep them coming as there are parts that needs replacing again" – as well as offering his appreciation to all of Zoqdi's customers, friends and supporters, who cheered them towards this victory and made it so much sweeter.

"Without them, this wouldn't be half as rewarding."

Zoqdi's car will be back to race in Malta in September and November at the Ħal Far Raceway – and the team hopes to race in the UK again next year.

Tag someone who definitely shouldn't try to emulate this incredible victory

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