In Australia, the Ford Falcon has a longstanding rivalry with the Holden Commodore. Both cars are locally-built, four door family cars with the V8 variants drawing fiercely loyal followings. A few years ago Ford Australia released the XR6T (a Falcon in a 6 cylinder turbo guise) that, while offending some of the diehard V8 fans, quickly became known for being potent in the power stakes.
Just how potent? Put it this way, the unassuming black Falcon you see here has run the quarter in 8.48 @ 165mph.
I spotted this Falcon at J21 and it was certainly worth a closer look. The Falcon was brought up to Queensland from Sydney, where it was created by TRP Racing. TRP is run by Tony and Dom Rigoli who have a reputation for building many frighteningly quick late-model drag cars. The Rigoli name will be familiar with WRX fans in both Australia and the U.S., as many of their creations have broken multiple world records. You may also remember our spotlight on their 8sec WRX wagon.
Beneath the hood, TRP have rebuilt the Ford 4.0 litre. On the far side you’ll spot a Plazmaman plenum…
…While on the near side is the truly enormous GT47 turbo. The Falcon features a host of Australian-made products such as a Haltech ECU and Turbosmart E-Boost 2 boost controller.
The parachute will come in handy as the Falcon also runs a healthy dose of giggle gas in addition to its diet of boost.
According to Performance Drive, the Falcon’s rear has been converted to a 4-link, with the transmission swapped to a two-speed Powerglide.
Although the team weren’t able to beat their 8.48 @ 165mph pass at Jamboree (they set an 8.75 @ 161mph), they seem confident that they’ll be able to go even quicker in the near future. You can see their 8.48 pass here.
With an XR6T rivalry starting to simmer in Australia, it will be interesting to see how quickly these unassuming four door sedans can go!
-Casey
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
I'd be interested to see what the japanese tuning scene could do with one of these big capacity turbo sixes.
Again someone explain to me again why we don't have this car on the American shores yet?? Also that looks like a straight 6 never knew Ford made one. I learned something today go meh!
I've had the same thought as Rhys for a while now, I wanna see what HKS could do to it!
The bodykit its wearing is the BF FPV GT kit (FPV is to Ford in Aus like AMG to Merc)
Everyone should realise that this sedan also weighs 1700+kgs - so over 3700 pounds in street trim. While this would weigh a bit less than that if the interiors been stripped, it won't be by much.
The 2005-2007 Barra 4.0L with nothing but stronger valve springs, bigger injectors, full 4in exhaust, CAI, intercooler and a custom tune will happily make over 500rwhp. The FG(2008+) model turbo engine are known to make over 600rwhp with nothing but those mods although a stronger tailshaft is generally needed if you're going to drag it..
Straight sixes FTW.
That is all.
so many of these in aus that are 500rkw+ and still streat drivin here in aus. bf f6 falcon comes stock with 270kw and 550nm
Inline-6 > Everything
Damn, now that I thought about it, I would much rather ford brought the I6T Falcon to Brazil than the Fusion...
Love inline 6 engines.
the question is IF ford brought it would people buy it? gm took a chance at their australian made commodore and face lifted it to look like the current g8 sedan and their sales aren't exactly stellar. This and gm's commodore are two fine examples of what could be offered on US soil but there is too much competition from 'green' cars now and not a strong enough market for a gas guzzling sport sedan. Ford UK has all kinds of models uk exclusive cars that should be in the US market but again... its that stupid market which is limiting the sales to only that country.
unassuming?!
it has slicks and a chute!
Slicks and a 'chute don't really lend much credence to the whole 'unassuming' part, do they?
@Clavius,
Unfortunately the Falcon platform can't be built in LHD, nor will the I6 pass emissions standards in the US (it's a bit of a Grandpa's axe and is in effect nearly 50yrs old).
I don't think Ford exports much from Aus. Would be great to see them all over the world exposing them to more and more tuners and their interpretations of modifications.
It's the only Aussie built modern car that I'd actually contemplate owning! I'm surprised the boys over at GMH haven't introduced a similar vehicle
Barra IL6 will be the new RB/SR as they age.
Brilliant car, well built and using top parts from Plazmaman. I used to own a F6 Typhoon by FPV it only had a measly 500hp at the rear tires compared to this beast.
And Ford are scrapping this motor... I may shed a tear.
LMFAO @ "Unassuming". I don't think you can make a lot model car look much more 'assuming' than that!
Why does every one asume that a Japanese tuning company would all ways do better.?
Australia has some of the fastest import drag cars in the world..
The Heat Treatments GTR "IS" the fastest in the world..
The Falcon is a locally produced car.. its a fair assumtion that australain tuners would have already worked out the best combination to get a target ppower level from these engines..
This series of engine has been available in Oz for around a decade now.. there is more than just a few 1000whp street driven cars here..
i like the look of the car as model in general, its a bit harsh to call it unassuming!! - look at those rear wheels man.. plus theres a parachute!?? it must put down some respectable times - Thanks
supras are running similiar numbers with bigger turbos like gt55s and its doing it with only a gt47? oh my .... i think 7s would be easy with a bigger turbo
Ford six powered R32 Skyline race car I have nearly finished, standard engine to start with but will see where it goes. Have treated it like a Japanese engine, has a Nissan Z32 gearbox behind it. http://s1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee500/mazdarally/
Ford six powered skyline
@JASE the heat treatments GTR is from New Zealand not Australia.
Good god that thing is a beast.
Just to clarify, the Heat Treatments GTR is from New Zealand and yes, it is the fastest in the world.
@Clavius
They (ford) were thinking about it, but we're afraid that it would compete with mustang sales, so we got the tarus instead.
@d_Rav
Well the problem here in Brazil is that while the fusion has tax cuts since it's built in Mexico, cars from Australia have to pay full import taxes which make them too expensive.
The Commodore is still being sold here, tagged as Chevrolet Omega, even with the big taxation. Not many units being sold though. But we only got the v6 with automatic gearbox option, unfortunately
They'll probably stop selling it soon, since GM is also selling the lame, made in Mexico, Malibu.
If they could have brought the Falcon, within the price range from the Fusion, it would sell, because the Fusion is selling well in comparison to it's competitors.
Emissions here would not be the problem because our law is not as restrictive as the US ones... yet.
There were a couple of tube frame R35 bodied drag cars with TB42 Nissan engines in them. No word on how they ran, so I assume it didn't go that well. One car also had an RB26 in it.
The TB is a 4.2 liter Nissan inline 6 cylinder.
Your blog is informative. It is really great work. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. We like Ford Falcon . It has high quality driving, good mileage, interior and exterior looks good. I am going to buy <a href="http://www.winchbooks.com.au/ford-falcon-ltd-repair-manuals/ ">ford falcon </a> . This information is really useful to me.