JASON Ghiller debuted his bowling-club
beige, turbo Barra six-powered XD Falcon
at Drag Challenge last year, and was back
for more in 2017, running in the Haltech
Radial Blown class. “I’ve changed the oil
and sparkplugs,” a confident Jason said.
“Preparing for this year has been good as
I haven’t had to spend as much money as
last year!”
The fact it’s been driven 12,000km in the
past year quickly dispels any doubt about
the driveability or reliability of this sensational
sleeper Falcon. The car carries an FG-spec
Barra engine – block, head and cams –
dropped into the XD with a BA-style sump.
These later-gen Ford sixes have pretty good
bottom ends in them, but the crank in this one
is an ultra-reliable Tunnel Vision – Jason’s biz
- billet item, tethered to the SPS pistons with
Nitto I-beam rods and smothered by a Ross
Performance Balancers front pulley to help
with the 7800rpm he uses at the strip.
On each side of the head are bespoke Tunnel
Vision manifolds with the exhaust carrying a
Ferris-wheel sized GTX47 ball-bearing turbo,
pushing 40psi! Jason runs a Haltech Elite
2500 management system: “It allows me to do
clever stuff to allow the car to launch harder,”
he says. The transmission is a well-built GM
TH400.
“I drive it every week and it’s never been
trailered to the track,” Jason continues. “It’s
a ‘real’ car. It cruises at 110km/h easily at
2900rpm and gets reasonable fuel economy.”
Jason has put some effort into tuning the
rear suspension over the past 12 months, and
that is surely one of the big reasons the car
has gone from a PB at Calder of 9.2 to 8.6
earlier this year. The XD retains leaf-spring
architecture for its rear suspension, but
there’s a nice dose of clever stuff: Calvert
mono-leaf springs and Gazzard Brothers
dampers on a CalTracs-type installation to
prevent axle wind-up and get the grunt down.
Although the heat didn’t worry the car like it
did some others, Drag Challenge threw up a
couple of curly situations for Jason: “At Mildura,
an intercooler pipe came off and threw a hose
clamp into a drive belt,” he explains. “The belt
was replaced – but the wayward hose clamp
had damaged the crank trigger sensor.” Lady
luck stepped in, with a workshop in Mildura,
Motorhouse, having the correct Haltech
sensor sitting on a shelf covered in dust. “It
could have been disastrous!” Jason admits.
The only other work the car received was a
precautionary oil change.
He may not have won the Haltech Radial
Blown class, but at the end of the week
Jason and his simple, modest yet incredible
Falcon was the quickest Ford, the quickest
six-powered car and a Top 10 finisher.QUICKEST FORDQUICKEST SIXFORD XD FALCON
Class: Haltech Radial BlownSPECS
Engine: 4.0-litre Ford Barra
Turbo: Garrett GTX47
Transmission: TH400
Converter: SDE 3500rpm
Diff: 3.5:1
Power: 800rwkWPrevious PB: 8.67@158mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
8.64@155mphJASON Ghiller debuted his bowling-club
beige, turbo Barra six-powered XD Falcon
at Drag Challenge last year, and was back
for more in 2017, running in the Haltech
Radial Blown class. “I’ve changed the oil
and sparkplugs,” a confident Jason said.
“Preparing for this year has been good as
I haven’t had to spend as much money as
last year!”
The fact it’s been driven 12,000km in the
pastyear quickly dispels any doubt about
the driveability or reliability of this sensational
sleeper Falcon. The car carries an FG-spec
Barra engine – block, head and cams –
dropped into the XD with a BA-style sump.
These later-gen Ford sixes have pretty good
bottom ends in them, but the crank in this one
is an ultra-reliable Tunnel Vision – Jason’s biz
- billet item, tethered to the SPS pistons with
Nitto I-beam rods and smothered by a Ross
Performance Balancers front pulley to help
with the 7800rpm he uses at the strip.
On each side of the head are bespoke Tunnel
Vision manifolds with the exhaust carrying a
Ferris-wheel sized GTX47 ball-bearing turbo,
pushing 40psi! Jason runs a Haltech Elite
2500 management system: “It allows me to do
clever stuff to allow the car to launch harder,”
he says. The transmission is a well-built GM
TH4 00.
“I drive it every week and it’s never been
trailered to the track,” Jason continues. “It’s
a ‘real’ car. It cruises at 110km/h easily at
2900rpm and gets reasonable fuel economy.”
Jason has put some effort into tuning the
rear suspension over thepast 12 months, and
that is surely one of the big reasons the car
has gone from a PB at Calder of 9.2 to 8.6
earlier this year. The XD retains leaf-spring
architecture for its rear suspension, but
there’s a nice dose of clever stuff: Calvert
mono-leaf springs and Gazzard Brothers
dampers on a CalTracs-type installation to
prevent axle wind-up and get the grunt down.
Although the heat didn’t worry the car like it
did some others, Drag Challenge threw up a
couple of curly situations for Jason: “At Mildura,
an intercoolerpipe came off and threw a hose
clamp into a drive belt,” he explains. “The belt
was replaced – but the wayward hose clamp
had damaged the crank trigger sensor.” Lady
luck stepped in, with a workshop in Mildura,
Motorhouse, having the correct Haltech
sensor sitting on a shelf covered in dust. “It
could have been disastrous!” Jason admits.
The only other work the car received was a
precautionary oil change.
He may not have won the Haltech Radial
Blown class, but at the end of the week
Jason and his simple, modestyet incredible
Falcon was the quickest Ford, the quickest
six-powered car and a Top 10 finisher.QUICKEST FORDQUUICKEST SIXFORD XD FALCON
Class: Haltech Radial BlownSPECS
Engine:4. 0 -litre Ford Barra
Turbo:Garrett GTX47
Transmission:TH4 00
Converter: SDE 3500rpm
Diff: 3. 5 : 1
Power: 800 rwkWPrevious PB:8.67@158mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
8.64@155mph