After six months of hard work, Denis Pana is set to debut his new state-of-the-art VE Holden Commodore RSA Street Stocker shortly at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway.
Although Pana has been a long-time speedway follower, he has only stepped into the sport as a competitor four seasons ago. Prior to speedway, Pana gained a wealth of motorsport experience in categories such as Commodore Cup, GT Cup and V8 Utes, and it’s this experience that he has brought with him into speedway competition.
For the majority of this current season, Pana has been racing the Anthony Attard-owned VX Holden Commodore and currently sits 10th in the Western Sydney Street Stockers Club Championship standings.
In the past, Pana has built all of his own race cars with the support of his passionate and talented 23-year-old son, Chris; however, his latest VE Holden Commodore has been entirely built by Chris himself. When it comes to the new project, to say that it’s a state-of-the-art machine would be quite the understatement.
The VE Holden Commodore has been thoroughly built – to the point where it resembles more the standard of a Supercar than your regular RSA Street Stocker. Every minor detail has been covered with this car – both internally and externally.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the car and way it’s been built, so much to the point where I have mixed emotions about taking it out of the track, because I’m excited to hit the track but at the same time I don’t want to bend it,” commented Denis Pana.
“Over the years, Chris has helped and learned about building race cars from me, but on this occasion, this entire car build has been him. I’m very proud of the lengths he has gone to make this car the best it can possibly be.”
Pana continued on by saying that although Chris had led the way, there has been a lot of support come from others in the process of the WSS # 33 Taubmans / PPG backed VE Holden Commodore’s build.
“Chris has done fabulous work with the new car and we’ve also received a lot of support from quality people within the industry who played their part in the build,” the 50-year-old racer from Seven Hills said.
“A lot of effort has gone into building this car to the highest standard, and now it’s time to get out on the track and see what it can do.”
For this season, Pana has attracted a number of major sponsors to the sport in the form of Taubmans and PPG.
“Taubmans and PPG are major world-wide brands, and to be able to bring into the team is not only a major plus for me but the whole sport of speedway,” Pana enthused.
“Apart from exposure at the track, our team is focused on going that extra mile to promote our sponsors and help give them maximum exposure across a range of avenues away from the track.”
Pana’s plans for the remainder of this season are the Western Sydney Street Stocker Club Championship at Valvoline Raceway and the Australian Title at Gunnedah Speedway on the Saturday night of April 29. At last season’s Australian Title, Pana drove strongly to finish just off the podium in fourth, and this season he is looking to improve on that result.
Pana is proudly supported in the 2016-17 season by the following sponsors:
Taubmans
PPG
Powerhouse Tune & Race
E-Chill Cool Technologies
Rencool
Pro Wraps
Tyre Solutions
Blackshaw’s Smash Repairs
Hills Indoor Sports Centre
Any District Pty Ltd
Special Thanks: Chris (son), Arthur (son), Steve Blackshaw and Andrew Wakeman.
