Victor Felice works as a truck driver at Express Trailers. However, when he’s not at work, he’s usually in his garage working on his Ford Escort Mk1. The flaming orange Escort, which is sponsored by Express Trailers, will again be participating in the forthcoming Dragster race calendar at Ħal Far.
“Express Trailers recognises passion when it sees it and this is why it had offered to encourage its employee’s passion especially since this concerns competition and speed. As a company, we are very competitive and our business is on the road, delivering our customers’ cargo in a speedy and timely manner. Our success is based on our performance and we also champion teamwork and a competitive spirit. These are the values that drive us and it is why we had taken up Victor’s offer to carry the Express Trailers brand on his Ford Escort Mk1,” said Franco Azzopardi, Chairman and CEO of Express Trailers.
Victor has been passionate about cars from a very young age and he always dreamt of owning a car that could ultimately compete in drag racing. He started working on his Ford Escort Mk1 in the early 1990s, and in 1996, he competed with his car for the first time, clocking 13.00sec.
Back then, Victor and his son Jamie were participating in bracket racing and in 1997, they managed to improve their timing to 12 seconds, further improved to 10.9 seconds – the best time for this car during those years.
In 1998, Jamie carried out more important upgrades to the engine which helped bring the timing down below the 10 seconds – at 9.8 seconds.
“We were equipped with a Chevrolet V8 350ci engine. I have always been fascinated by such an engine. However, this was a standard engine and with Jamie’s help, we kept modifying the car which today features a chrome chassis, a two-speed powerglide gearbox, rear axle Ford nine-inch, drag slicks Hoosiers and a 360ci SB-Chevy engine complete with nitrous oxide built and tuned by Jamie himself. Our best time to date has been that of 8.48 seconds,” explained Victor.
Besides the ups and downs, Victor and Jamie have shared many rewarding successes, the latest being the recent night event organised by the Malta Drag Racing Association where Victor managed to win his CA6 class.
“Our aim is to keep improving our car’s performance and to enjoy the satisfactions that this sport gives us. We are grateful to all those who support us, including our sponsors, as without them, our achievements would have never materialised,” concluded Victor.