Promising young racer Jessica Harper will be making a big step up this season with a new dragster she has purchased. The car was built by an ex-racer but has never run down the strip, so Harper was more than happy to take the 540 cubic inch Chev-powered beast off his hands.

This engine produces just under 1000 horsepower and is designed to propel the dragster to high 6sec. times.

"It's a huge step up so we will be running it pretty fat (meaning running excess amounts of fuel to produce less power) to start with," Harper said.

As always she has a goal in her sights.

"I want to be the quickest naturally-aspirated female racer in Australia," she said. The current record lies somewhere in the mid 7sec. zone.

The dragster brings new challenges to a driver due to the huge amounts of power.

"It's a whole new ball game," Harper said. "I'm going to have to get used to tyre shake and having a car that needs a lot of steering input going down the track."

After campaigning the car in Modified for a season, Harper will then turn her attentions to the Super Comp category at Kwinana where she will run in the A/Dragster class.

"We should be competitive there," she said. "Then for my 21st birthday I get a supercharger and we'll step up again."