Correctomundo Steve, I misread Dave's post. Ironically it was Ricky Day that broke Aireys 11 year old 2 lap record of 38.2 seconds when he did a flat 38 seconds. One of the worst kept secrets was that Airey allegedly ran a high Nitro dose in the ESO the night he broke the record. John Langfield and Airey joked about the use of nitromethane in front of a lot of people including Jonesy, Cec Platt and I at a post Bathurst Long Track piss up in the early 90's. While Airey didn't actually admit that the record was done on nitro, Langy outed him pretty thoroughly and they both laughed about it, Airey not taking to oppportunity to deny.
The use of the hybrid McGee/Hilborn fuel injection gives a hint to the fuel used. Those early mechanical fuel injection setups were developed almost specifically for drag racing where throttle control isn't a priority, it's either full on or nothing. If it was a great idea, other riders would have used it. While the standard Amal or Bing speedway carb can handle nitro doses up to about 50% or maybe even less, the fuel injections force fed mechanical pump allowed for huge top fueler type doses of 90%+. The fact that the record lasted well into the 4 valve era-11 years in fact has no equivalent in motorsport.
I'm in no way denigrating Jim Airey's amazing talent and his domination of the Sydney Showground in the pre Billy Sanders era, I'm merely questioning that particular ride for that particular record on that particular night. Airey wasn't the first to allegedly use Nitro and he wasn't the last. I've also heard of another NSW based racer using the even more volatile and dangerous Hydrazine on more than a couple of occasions. While there might be a bit of "fuel fudging" today, the checks and balances are far more stringent at the top level, making it far more difficult to get away with it.
