PAUL HAMILTON
A DRAG Challenge first-timer in 2016, Paul Hamilton
obviously enjoyed himself, because he arrived this year
with a pair of hairdryers installed in his already-tough XA
Falcon GT.
The Tasmanian farmer ran nitrous last year, but since then
he has had Melbourne’s Competition Engines strip and
rebuild the 601-cube mill to suit turbos. It’s built on an
Eliminator block with Ford Motorsport A460 heads. The
engine’s prior compression ratio was 14:1, but that’s been
pulled back to a boost-friendly 9:1 to take the breeze from
the new pair of Garrett turbos. CE handled the intercooler
and piping tasks too; it’s a water-to-air unit in the passenger
front footwell. The car now has its power steering plumbed
from an electric pump in the boot.
Power from the boosted and roller-cammed big-block is
a considerable 2100hp at the flywheel, and Paul spins it to
6800rpm. Behind the donk is a Powerglide with a Dominator
3000rpm converter, running to a spooled nine-inch with
tough 35-spline axles and 3.5:1 cogs on a CalTracs-style
rear end. “There’s nothing real fancy about it!” he laughs.
Paul started his week with a leisurely 9.97 at Adelaide. “For
my first runs, I wasn’t going to go too hard,” he said on the
Monday. Apart from popping his bonnet to help shed some
heat – as did many participants on the transport stages
between Adelaide, Mildura and Swan Hill – Paul says the
Falcon cruised well all week.
“It cruises along nice at 90-100km/h at about 2700rpm,
which is doable,” he says. “We only stopped for a wee
and some fuel! I’m actually surprised at how well it went –
particularly the transmission temps and how well it coped
with driving back into Adelaide with the stop-start traffic.
Okay, it’s not quite like a late-model car, but for what it is,
it’s terrific. It behaves.”
Paul loves the new combo, built to drink pump 98 juice.
“That makes the logistics easy,” he says. “There’s less
mucking around. Sure, I could turn the wick up with race
fuel, but you can run a reasonable number all week on
pump fuel.”
Paul’s best time was an 8.60@163mph at Swan Hill
on Wednesday. “There’s bit more [potential] in the car’s
60-foot,” he says. “And of course I can give it a bit more
top end, too, by sneaking the boost up to 25 pounds and
running race fuel.”
Paul completed DC 2017 with a win in the Turbosmart
Outlaw Blown class. “I’m stoked! But to be honest, I didn’t
think I had a hope in hell of winning!”A DRAG Challenge first-timer in 2016, Paul Hamilton
obviously enjoyed himself, because he arrived this year
with apair of hairdryers installed in his already-tough XA
Falcon GT.
The Tasmanian farmer ran nitrous last year, but since then
he has had Melbourne’s Competition Engines strip and
rebuild the 601-cube mill to suit turbos. It’s built on an
Eliminator block with Ford Motorsport A460 heads. The
engine’s prior compression ratio was 14:1, but that’s been
pulled back to a boost-friendly 9:1 to take the breeze from
the new pair of Garrett turbos. CE handled the intercooler
and piping tasks too; it’s a water-to-air unit in the passenger
front footwell. The car now has its power steering plumbed
from an electric pump in the boot.
Power from the boosted and roller-cammed big-block is
a considerable 2100hp at the flywheel, and Paul spins it to
6800rpm. Behind the donk is a Powerglide with a Dominator
3000rpm converter, running to a spooled nine-inch with
tough 35-spline axles and 3.5:1 cogs on a CalTracs-style
rear end. “There’s nothing real fancy about it!” he laughs.
Paul started his week with a leisurely 9.97 at Adelaide. “For
my first runs, I wasn’t going to go too hard,” he said on the
Monday. Apart from popping his bonnet to help shed some
heat – as did many participants on the transport stages
between Adelaide, Mildura and Swan Hill – Paul says the
Falcon cruised well all week.
“It cruises along nice at 90-100km/h at about 2700rpm,
which is doable,” he says. “We only stopped for a wee
and some fuel! I’m actually surprised at how well it went –
particularly the transmission temps and how well it coped
with driving back into Adelaide with the stop-start traffic.
Okay, it’s not quite like a late-model car, but for what it is,
it’s terrific. It behaves.”
Paul loves the new combo, built to drink pump 98 juice.
“That makes the logistics easy,” he says. “There’s less
mucking around. Sure, I could turn the wick up with race
fuel, but you can run a reasonable number all week on
pump fuel.”
Paul’s best time was an 8.60@163mph at Swan Hill
on Wednesday. “There’s bit more [potential]]in the car’s
60-foot,” he says. “And of course I can give it a bit more
top end, too, by sneaking the boost up to 25 pounds and
running race fuel.”
Paul completed DC 2017 with a win in the Turbosmart
Outlaw Blown class. “I’m stoked! But to be honest, I didn’t
think I had a hope in hell of winning!”