The Chev Monte Carlo-bodied Funny Car ran quicker than its national record and gave Pilkington a new personal best time of 5.78sec. as well as exceeding the 400kmh barrier with a charge of 403kmh.

“We were very happy for our first year with a new car,” he said. “It was unexpected and with the tough racing in Top Comp this season it made it more of an achievement.”

The National Tyres team was anticipating the record performances but never so early on in the development of the speed machine.

“We always planned on it running this quick, but it was above our expectations to go 5.7sec. in the first few events,” he said.

Uniquely for one of these high maintenance, supercharged race cars, no major engine damage was experienced during the season.

Pilkington still believes there is room to move with the tune up in his Funny Car, with quicker times from the black beast a certainty.

“Our clutch settings are still not right all the time,” he said. “That will just come with getting more runs on the car. It will run a 5.6sec. time eventually.”

The game plan is going to be changed slightly for next season with Pilkington planning to take on several Top Alcohol rounds.

“We'll definitely do the local round and may look to travel,” he said. “Top Alcohol rules allow for more overdrive in the supercharger which gives more power, but harnessing that can be difficult.

“We have a bit of a handle on what is going on now and being consistent is really the only question mark, hopefully we can solve that when we do some testing next week.”