Having run a PB of
8.37 on the final day,
getting off the gas
at the 1000ft mark,
there’s still more left
in this combo. As far
as we’re aware, Luke’s
VH is the quickest
factory alloy-block
LS-powered street car
in the landLUKE Foley’s VH Commodore is powered by
the little LS that could. It has done hundreds
of passes, thousands of street kilometres
and is a really basic set-up that continues to
deliver results that belie its specs.
The full-weight Commodore packs an
alloy 6.0-litre L98 from a VE Commodore
that is pretty much standard save for a set
of rods and pistons, yet runs low eights in
street trim.
Retaining the factory crank and cylinder
heads, it had been boosted by a pair of
62mm Turbonetics turbos since the combo
was built for last year’s Drag Challenge
using spare parts that Luke had. The combo
turned out way better than expected and
ended up running a PB of 8.46@164mph.
“The engine would have done over 150
passes since we built it and around 20,000
street kays,” Luke says.
Between driving it home from Red
CentreNATS earlier this year after Luke’s
tow car was wrecked in an accident with
a rogue cow, countless trips out to Calder
and cruising around Geelong, and now
two Drag Challenges, it’s been through the
wringer, yet remains insanely reliable.Before this year’s Drag Challenge Luke
decided to step up the combo, and we
wondered if he was playing with fire
changing a good thing just weeks from the
event. The basic engine was untouched, with
Luke moving to bigger 65/67mm Garrett
GTW3884 turbos and a Plazmaman air-to-
air intercooler and intake manifold.
“My old water-to-air intercooler was
useless; by the time I got down the end
of the track my intake temps were getting
high,” Luke says. “I also went to a Plazmaman
intake manifold, redid all of the exhaust
manifolds with new turbos and made new
’cooler pipes.”
From there it was onto the rollers at MPW
Performance, where Luke and good mate
and business partner Adam Rogash tuned
the car. On roughly the same boost as
before, it made considerably more power,
when it wasn’t smoking the tyres and
delivering inaccurate readings. The most
accurate figure they saw was 720rwkW on
fairly moderate boost.
Luke drives the VH everywhere, and true to
form he drove his car to and from Adelaide
for DC17, some 800-odd kilometres beforethe torture test really started. On the way
over Luke cracked a rim, but otherwise she
purred along with no dramas. For the rest
of the week the car averaged 8.50s at the
quarter-mile tracks and Luke handed in a
5.66 at Mildura’s eighth-mile Sunset Strip.
Again, no dramas to report.
On the final day, with cool ambient temps
and a sticky track to play on, Luke got the
new set-up really working.
“I still left pretty soft off the transbrake
because I didn’t know if the track was there
or not, then I ramped the power in pretty hard
and it felt awesome,” he enthuses. “I got to
the 1000-foot mark and it felt quicker than
it’s ever been, and I’d had such little sleep
the night before after driving to Adelaide
from Portland and then going out with the
boys, I kind of panicked and got off it! It
ended up being a PB of 8.37@155mph!”
According to Luke, that makes it the
quickest factory alloy block LS-powered
street car in the country. “I lined up to go
again, hoping for an 8.20, but it started
raining so we had to pack up.”
The next day Luke cruised home to
Geelong; the car just keeps on truckin’.VH COMMODORE
Class: Haltech Radial BlownSPECS
Engine: 6.0-litre L98
Turbos: Twin Garrett GTW3884
Transmission: Powerglide
Converter: 10.5in TCE 3000rpm stall
Diff: 3.25:1
Power: 965rwhpPrevious PB: 8.46@164mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
8.37@155mphTHREE BOOSTED LS RIDES PUT THROUGH THE WRINGER ON DC17
Having run a PB of
8.37 on the final day,
getting off the gas
at the 1000ft mark,
there’s still more left
in this combo. As far
as weas we re’re aware Luke aware, Luke s’s
VH is theth quickest
facffacfacfacacctory alloy-blocockk
LS-LLS-LS-Spowpowpowp ered sdstretreeet et t carcarca
inin thet lalalandnndLUKE Foley’s VH Commodore is powered by
the little LS that could. It has done hundreds
of passes, thousands of street kilometres
and is a really basic set-up that continues to
deliver results that belie its specs.
The full-weight Commodore packs an
alloy 6.0-litre L98 from a VE Commodore
that is pretty much standard save for a set
of rods and pistons, yet runs low eights in
street trim.
Retaining the factory crank and cylinder
heads, it had been boosted by a pair of
62mm Turbonetics turbos since the combo
was built for last year’s Drag Challenge
using spare parts that Luke had. The combo
turned out way better than expected and
ended up running a PB of 8.46@164mph.
“The engine would have done over 150
passes since we built it and around 20,000
street kays,” Luke says.
Between driving it home from Red
CentreNATS earlier this year after Luke’s
tow car was wrecked in an accident with
a rogue cow, countless trips out to Calder
and cruising around Geelong, and now
two Drag Challenges, it’s been through the
wringer, yet remains insanely reliable.Before this year’s DragChallenge Luke
decided to step up the combo, and we
wondered if he was playing with fire
changing agood thingjust weeks from the
event. The basic engine was untouched, with
Luke moving to bigger 65/67mm Garrett
GTW3884 turbos and a Plazmaman air-to-
air intercooler and intake manifold.
“My old water-to-air intercooler was
useless; by the time I got down the end
of the track my intake temps were getting
high,” Luke says. “I also went to a Plazmaman
intake manifold, redid all of the exhaust
manifolds with new turbos and made new
’cooler pipes.”
From there it was onto the rollers at MPW
Performance, where Luke and good mate
and business partner Adam Rogash tuned
the car. On roughlythe same boost as
before, it made considerably more power,
when it wasn’t smoking the tyres and
delivering inaccurate readings. The most
accurate figure they saw was 720rwkW on
fairly moderate boost.
Luke drives the VH everywhere, and true to
form he drove his car to and from Adelaide
for DC17, some 800-odd kilometres beforethe torture test really started. On the way
over Luke cracked a rim, but otherwise she
purred along with no dramas. For the rest
of the week the car averaged 8.50s at the
quarter-mile tracks and Luke handed in a
5.66 at Mildura’s eighth-mile Sunset Strip.
Again, no dramas to report.
On the final day, with cool ambient temps
and a sticky track to play on, Luke got the
new set-up really working.
“I still left pretty soft off the transbrake
because I didn’t know if the track was there
or not, then I ramped the power in pretty hard
and it felt awesome,” he enthuses. “I got to
the 1000-foot mark and it felt quicker than
it’s ever been, and I’d had such little sleep
the night before after driving to Adelaide
from Portland and then going out with the
boys, I kind of panicked andgot off it! It
ended up being a PB of 8.37@155mph!”
According to Luke, that makes it the
quickest factory alloy block LS-powered
street car in the country. “I lined up to go
again, hoping for an 8.20, but it started
raining so we had to pack up.”
The next day Luke cruised home to
Geelong; the car just keeps on truckin’.VH COMMODORE
Class:Haltech Radial BlownSPECS
Engine: 6.0-litre L9 8
Turbos:Twin Garrett GTW3884
Transmission: Powerglide
Converter: 10.5in TCE 3000rpm stall
Diff: 3. 25 :1
Power:965rwhpPreviousPB: 8 .46@164mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
8.37@155mphTHTHTHTHTHTHTHREE BOOSTED LS RIDES PUT THROUGH THE WRINGER ON DC17
some 800 odd kilometres before