STAGE WRITE
BOB KOTMEL
I
LOVE naturally aspirated street cars that run
q u i c k , a n d R o b e r t Va l a s t r o’s V L C o m m o d o r e i s
an outstanding example. Bobby made the first
eight-second pass for a street-driven, factory-
Holden-block V8 at Willowbank in May, when it
went 8.97@148mph on ETS P14. The car has
since run a best of 8.96@148mph on VP QM25.
What makes this car so incredible is the way it
hooks up. The VL runs two-tenths quicker than
it should for its mph. According to the Moroso
calculator, the 2850lb, 355ci Holden-powered
Commodore is making 750hp by ET and 720hp
by mph – an honest 2hp per cube any way you
look at it.
Tony Brinkley at Brinks Performance in
Townsville has had a lot to do with getting the
Holden to hang together at 9000rpm. A VS
block was fitted with M&W four-bolt caps, a
knife-edged and lightened Scat billet crank, six-
inch Oliver I-beam rods, 30thou-over forged CP
13.1:1 custom pistons, and file-back rings. John
B a r b a g a l l o f i t t e d t h e l i f t e r b u s h e s t o t h e V S b l o c k ,
which was grout-filled to the Welch plugs.
T h e H o l d e n – 9 h e a d s w e r e d o n e b y B u l l e t R a c e
Engineering, and the 2.1-inch Del West titanium
intake valves flow 365cfm at .700in lift. Manley
1.6-inch stainless valves are fitted to the exhaust.
The Tony Brinkley-selected custom-grind Crane
cam has around 260 degrees duration at 50thou
and .700in lift on 108-inch lobe centres. Jesel
1.7:1 intake and 1.6:1 exhaust shaft-mounted
roller rockers open the valves.
A Ray Edwards modified 1050cfm single four-
barrel carb on a modified two-inch, four-holed
spacer sits atop the Torque Power Pro Paw 4150
intake manifold. The MSD crank trigger is set
at 29 degrees and fires the NGK-8 plugs via a
MSD6AL-2, MSD coil and MSD leads.
Holden V8 strokers are notorious for oil issues,
so Bobby uses a belt-driven Savy external oilpump with an ASR wet sump fitted with mesh,
windage tray, gates, crank scrapers and –12
lines. When the VL was raced initially, Bobby
filled the ASR wet sump with 9.5 litres of oil
for a best of 136mph. The oil volume was then
dropped to seven litres, and the reduction in oil
drag was so significant, the carb needed to be
re-jetted – and the car then went 142mph. The
vacuum pump is a three-vane Star unit.
Tony Brinkley organised a lightweight three-
speed Pro Trans TH350 from the States. Behind
the stock TH350 bellhousing is an eight-inch
Dominator Eliminator 6200rpm stall converter
set up so tight that it pushes through the brakes
at 2000rpm. Out back is a Pro9 nine-inch fitted
with Strange 35-spline axles, Strange carrier
and 4.57:1 gears. The 15x9 Weld rear wheels
are shod with 28x9in Mickey Thompson radials,
while up front, 15x4 Weld wheels are fitted with
Moroso front-runners.
The VL has been fitted with Pro9 adjustable
brackets top and bottom, Pro9 control arms
and anti-roll bar. The Afco coil-overs in the rear
are Gazzard Brothers-supplied, along with the
Santhuff front struts.
The jump from low nines into high eights came
from an experiment with collectors. The headersare custom-made stepped four-into-ones – 1^7 / 8 -
inch out of the head for the first eight inches,
then two inches for around 26 inches. Bobby
initially used a Burns 3½-inch merge collector,
but when he swapped it for a modified Aeroflow
three-inch item, the Commodore responded
with 8.9s. A twin three-inch system with Hooker
SS resonators is fitted for street duties. At the
track these are easily disconnected using turbo
V-clamps.
Lionel Durre built the chrome-moly rollcage,
and RCI plastic front seats are used to comply
with ANDRA safety rules on race day, along with
a parachute, but on the street the Commodore
runs on pump 98 and rocks the factory seats. The
car still races with the factory rear seat, wind-up
glass windows and carpet. To lighten the car, a
non-genuine Calais front fibreglass panel was
fitted, and a fibreglass bonnet is used for the
track. The rest of the panels are factory.
An $80 eBay alloy V6 radiator with plastic
tanks is all that’s need to stay cool in the summer
heat on the street. The fuel cell in the boot is
connected to a high-pressure Aeromotive A1000
fuel pump with –12 line s; – 8 fuel line s fee d fuel to
the front of the car.
These days seven-second turbo street cars are
getting all the ink; no one seems to notice the
naturally aspirated cars going quick on nature’s
own 14psi of atmospheric pressure. It takes a lot
of work to make a Holden combo go hard, and
Mike at KTMR has spent many hours on the dyno
over the past 10 years finding the 700 horses to
get Bobby’s VL into the eights.
The Commodore has raced at Willowbank,
Benaraby and Palmyra, and even the Holden
Nationals in Victoria. One of these days Bobby
wants to race at Drag Challenge. If you see him
in the pits, say hello and tell him you read about
his car in Street Machine. sPHOTO
MICHAEL BRENNAN
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t n o d p ua n h n b h w S r V a w
n s t - t s. t n o d p
a i t i b t w S t V a
ROBERT VALASTRO’S VLCOMMODORE MADE THE
FIRST EIGHT-SECOND
PASS FOR A STREET-
DRIVEN, FACTORY-
HOLDEN-BLOCK V8