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FORD FALCON XB JOHN GOSS SPECIAL

Peter and his ‘proper’ JGS

This is the John Goss Special we reckon Ford Australia should have built. It honors the man and his achievements (Goss is the only one with his name on the winner’s trophy of the Australian GP and Bathurst 1000), more meaningfully than the original car bearing his name, launched August 1975.The John Goss Special was a limited edition Ford Falcon XB two-door hardtop produced to celebrate Goss’ Bathurst win in 1974. [More]

Supercars Abroad

ImageSupercars, as they are now known, and previously as the V8 Supercars and Australian Touring Car Championship, have had a strong presence in this country for quite some time now. Followers have seen Falcons, Commodores, Skylines, and more, pound the circuits of Australia.
However, there were occasional excursions to places other than Sydney or Perth or tracks in Tasmania. And for the sake of prudency we’ll also include New Zealand as we’re looking at locations such as Europe or Japan. [More]

Best of the Best in Supercars

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Records are black, round, and made of a form of plastic. Or they’re what is created when a previous level is exceeded. People such as basketballer Michael Jordan, Red Bull balloonist Felix Baumgartner, or movie franchise “The Avengers” have created records.
In Australia there are plenty of record makers. In motorsport, especially in our home grown Australian Touring car Championships/V8 Supercars/Supercars.
With the 2019 Bathurst 1000 run and done, we thought we’d have a look at a few of the record makers and holders for our top tier motorsport category. [More]

Super2 Mid-Season Recap

Super2 is the name given to the second level of Supercars racing in Australia. It’s undergone a number of name changes in recent years, but the level of entertainment and gripping racing hasn’t. It’s provided a home for superseded top tier Supercars, and is a place for drivers aiming to enter the big league to test themselves in close quarter racing. Naturally there is some big money being moved around on track in the form of Commodore, Falcon, and Nissan shaped cars. All of these are draped in sponsorship logos and proudly representing Rare Spares is Perth born Adam Marjoram. The West Aussie is no stranger to high performance racing. The Saloon Cars category and Porsche GT3s have felt the Marjoram touch, before finding a place in the biff and barge that was V8 Utes. The talented Marjoram quickly caught the eye of Erebus Motorsport and the dynamic Betty Klimenko. After rapid growth in racing stature here and almost winning the V8 Ute Championship in 2015, Marjoram entered the Super2 category and raced the Ford FG Falcon in a tough competition in 2016. 2017 and Marjoram moves into a Holden VF Commodore, where he remains but now with the Image Racing/Erebus Motorsport team. There have been two rounds of the Super2 with Adelaide and Perth having seen the cars on circuit so far. Qualifying for the Rare Spares backed driver wasn’t kind for his first 2019 race, starting from 11th, but did manage to make his way up through to 9th. Race 2 was a better result, with Marjoram getting good pace on the tight Adelaide street circuit and finishing in 6th. Round 2 saw the category head to Barbagallo, a circuit that Marjoram knows well. Up against some serious competition, and just weeks away from his 26th birthday, Marjoram’s first race was forgettable, with no result against his name after reaching 7th. Brake failure took him out of a top 8 finish on the last lap and took him out of serious points contention. Race 2 saw Adam climb from 10th to 6th off the start, only to be muscled off the track on lap 3, dropping to 12th and driving back through to 10th. Round 3 was held in rainy conditions in the normally sunny town of Townsville. Race 1 Adam qualified 13th and was in contention for pole but a last second error took that out of his hands. The race itself saw him finish as high as 6th. This would be where he would finish in Race 1, and in Race 2 just had nowhere to go. Most of the second race was held under safety car conditions due to the inclement weather. A second 6th will be in his history books for the third round of Super2s in 2019. Adam says of Rare Spares that he aligns with them due to their passion for motorsport, and enjoys their like minded attitude when it comes to cars and the aftermarket automotive industry. For the rest of the year he says a podium is well and truly within sight, and by continuing to harass the top five, he’s certain that a podium finish and a chance to spray the champers is his! Are you a follower of Super2 and/or Adam Marjoram? Let us know your thoughts on the category and this talented and engaging Perth born driver via our blog feedback section.       

Classic Bathurst Recap - 2006

The Bathurst 1000 of 2006 will be forever etched in history as the one “The King of the Mountain” watched from up high and saw his protégé’ Craig Lowndes, alongside a champion in the making, Jamie Whincup, hold the first ever Peter Brock Trophy over the pit lane crowd. It was the second win for CL, as he’s known, and the first for Whincup after his second place the year before. Thirty one cars would be entered in this year’s “Great Race”, with an almost even split of Holden and Ford branded vehicles. Ford would field fifteen BA Falcons, the first model after the ill-fated AU Falcon, whilst Holden showcased sixteen VZ Commodores, the final iteration of a design essentially a decade old. Qualifying was tight and intense, resulting in the top eight cars being separated by under a second, and the top eighteen cars separated by under two seconds. Again it was almost an even split for the then top two locally made cars, with four Falcons and six Commodores. Of the top five though, just one blue oval branded car would be there, with a former Holden driver, Jason Bright, in second. Provisonal pole had gone to Holden driver Mark Skaife in a blistering 2:06.9764, just a tenth ahead of Bright’s Falcon. The Top Ten Shootout would see Skaife carry that form onwards, with a 2:07.4221, a full three tenths quicker than Bright. Rick Kelly, New Zealand born Jason Richards and Greg Murphy, all in Commodores, would round out the top five. Eventual race winner Lowndes, driving the Ford BA Falcon, would be beaten to fifth by a mere four one thousandths of a second. The race itself was held on Sunday October 8. In 2006 it was the ninth race weekend of the then V8 Supercars Championship. It would also prove to be the longest race since 2002. With all 161 laps completed it finished just seven seconds shy of seven hours and a full twenty two minutes longer than the previous year. A race start incident proved to be crucial in the final results. Pole sitter Skaife went from hero to zero within a half minute, with a clutch failure leaving him battling to get his Commodore moving to race speed. Although he had cleared the first corner he had got as far as the first rise on the road to the top of the mountain, and with heavy traffic behind him an unfortunate Jack Perkins was blindsided, ploughing his Commodore into Skaife’s and forcing him into the wall. This allowed the second grid spot driver, Jason Bright and his co-driver Mark Winterbottom, to take the lead. However a brake lockup had Bright require a tyre change with just fifteen laps completed. More woe befell the duo with Winterbottom garaging the car on lap 28. A full fourteen cars would fail to finish the 2006 race, with Rare Spares ambassador John Bowe, alongside his mate and co-driver Brad Jones, finishing eleventh. The race was punctuated by a number of safety car interventions, including one of over twenty minutes after the veteran Kiwi born Paul Radisich, on lap 71, had his Commodore spear into a retaining wall at the Chase. The impact rolled the car onto its side and left Radisich in need of trackside marshal intervention to remove him from his stricken vehicle. Just six laps would be held in that fourth hour of the race. As seems traditional with the Bathurst 1000, a late race incident played a part in the final standings. Jason Richards also lost control and hit a wall. Laps remaining were just ten. Rick Kelly and Craig Lowndes were dealing with a six second buffer prior to the final safety car call to deal with the Richards car. A fired up Lowndes would lay down the race’s quickest lap on the 158th circuit of the 6.213 kilometres worth of tarmac, and would greet the chequered flag a bare half second ahead of a determined Kelly. In tumultuous and emotional scenes on the presentation balcony, Lowndes would be in tears as he acknowledged his late friend and mentor, Peter Brock. Is 2006 your favourite Bathurst 1000? Head over to the Rare Spares Facebook page and tell us your memories of the weekend in the comments section below this article.

The Ford Barra Engine. A Modern Classic?

Grandpa’s axe. It’s a term usually employed to describe something that’s been around for decades and is almost unbreakable. And when it does break it’s repaired in a low tech way. Simplicity rules, you see. Ford’s venerable straight six engine was Australia’s automotive equivalent of that axe from grandpa’s shed. Covering a range of capacities including the famous 4.1L or 250cid, its no nonsense, take what it was given, unburstable design, has it as a favourite in Australia’s car loving hearts. The straight six that Australia saw was born in America. Available in various capacities there, including a 200cid six that was seen in the original US Mustang, Ford’s Australian arm unveiled the 250cid straight six in 1970. Its basic design was strong, simple, just like grandpa’s axe. A 2V suffix was given to the engine, denoting that the carbie had two venturi and would breathe deeper than the single carbied versions. Available from the XY through to XB Falcon, it was good for 116kW and 325Nm, a hefty increase over the standard 200cid’s 96kW/257Nm delivery. Barra itself is a contraction of Barramundi. That’s not just a tenacious fish, it was the code name for the engine during development. It was applied not only to the straight six but also to the three valve 5.4L V8 version. The six was built from 2002 and was found in various Ford products such as the Falcon and Territory until Ford Australia ceased manufacturing in 2016. The V8s, in Barra then Boss and Coyote form, were there until the FG-X model of the Falcon and derivatives wrapped in 2016. The Barra V8 ceased with the BF Fairlane which was available from 2005 to 2007, and became the last Fairlane model produced here.   The straight six was engineered into several different versions including a LPG fed engine. But many “revheads” would say the six’s finest hour was when it was built with a turbocharger and bolted into the XR6, F6, and suchlike. With “normal” engines pumping out an original 182kW, 190kW, and 195kW, with 380Nm, 383Nm, and 391Nm, the turbo took the power and torque to world class levels. There was an initial offering, of 240kW and 450Nm, with that twist available from 2000 to 4500 rpm. Along came the 245kW and 480Nm version before the Barra 270T, with Garrett GT3576R turbo, and Barra 310T showed what clever Australian engineering could deliver. Found in the BA, the BF, and then the FG, the big six may have actually undersold its capabilities. Rumours abound that in order to continue sales of the V8, the power and torque figures were deliberately quoted as being less than what they actually produced, with 360kW and 700Nm being whispered as the true figures. Ford’s best six came in the form of the Barra 325T. This, sadly, was a deliberately limited run and sold in the limited edition FG-X XR6 Sprint. With ten pre-production vehicles, five hundred for Australia, and just fifty for New Zealand, it was a special engine in a special car. Power was quoted as 325kW @ 6000rpm, and 576Nm at a driver friendly 2750rpm. The engines also had an overboost feature for the turbo, which allowed an extra ten percent of boost to be added for up to ten seconds. Combined with larger injectors at 82mm, a fifty percent bigger intercooler, and a carbon fibre air intake (a first for Ford Australia) with better airflow, Ford Australia said the overboost would deliver 370kW and 650Nm of torque. Although the V8s sold well and were amongst the first in the world to feature what Ford called the VCT Modular design, they simply didn’t grab the attention as well as the six. Power outputs for the three valve V8s were reflected in the names, being Barra 220 (472Nm) and Barra 230 500Nm). The grandpa’s axe straight six’s heritage and strength have it in the part of automotive history marked “To Be Revered Because Of Its Legendary Status.” Long live the Barra.

Future Classics – 5 Australian cars with investment potential

It seems to be every couple of weeks we hear of a mint condition A9X Torana, Monaro or GT-HO hitting the market for a monumental price, and they don’t seem to be having many issues finding a new home. So, with the Australian car manufacturing industry officially closed for business, which cars of more recent years will replace the classics of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s in another 50 years’ time? Well, in this article we take a look back at the cars produced in Australia since the turn of the century, and create a very short list of cars that might just be considered a classic in the future. Ford Falcon FGX XR8 Sprint The FGX XR8 Sprint was the most powerful Falcon ever produced, thanks to a 10 second overboost feature that elevated power specs from 335kw/570nm to a mammoth 400Kw/650Nm in short bursts. It was a final farewell for a model that had a long and illustrious history on both public roads and the race track. The final Falcon was a fantastic representation of what the Australian car manufacturing industry was capable of; not only was the car blisteringly fast, it was comfortable, looked good inside and out and rivalled many of its European counterparts in refinement. It will hardly be a surprise when the value of this car increases over time. Holden CV8Z Monaro The CV8Z Monaro was the final offering of the reincarnated Holden Monaro in the 2000s. It featured a beefed up 5.7 litre LS1 producing an impressive (for the time) 260kw. While the car was essentially a coupe version of the SS Commodore, the more compact appearance made the Monaro appear a considerably more sporty option than its full sized brother. Prices are already rising on good condition CV8Z’s, with the 6-speed manuals the pick of the transmissions. HSV GTSR Maloo The HSV GTSR Maloo is the fastest V8 Ute in the world, and as such will hold a special place in the heart of local car enthusiasts for many years to come. Truly one of a kind, the supercharged V8 ute features a host of goodies including 20inch forged alloy wheels, oversized brakes, bi modal exhaust, an impressive suspension setup and a torque vectoring differential. All these goodies result in a ute that stands out from the pack, creating a monster that looks just as home on the worksite as it does cutting laps at a track day. A cult favourite among young males, the Maloo will remain a desirable purchase for the foreseeable future. Ford Tickford TS50 T3 In general, the AU Falcon was not a terribly attractive car, and thus nor was it a terribly popular car, so by the time the BA come along most were happy to see the back of the oddly proportioned AU. The shining light, however, of the AU range was undoubtedly the Tickford enhanced range of TE50, TS50 and to a lesser extent TL50 Falcons. The pick of the bunch was the TS50 T3, which featured a hand built 5.6 litre V8, lowered suspension, and an all at the same time outlandish but understated body kit. While power may have been down compared to its direct competition – the HSV Clubsport; an absurd amount of torque ensured that in real world situations, the TS50 could bat well above its average. While the AU may not be popular across the board, among die hard Ford fans, it doesn’t get a lot better than this! HSV W1 GTRS How could we end this list with anything other than the W1? Less than a year since it was announced, all 300 have been snapped up and the prices are blowing out on the open market, with some selling for around a hundred grand over their $169,000 asking price! With the Corvette ZR1 derived LS9 and performance mods everywhere you look, this car is a true track monster, producing an enormous 474Kw and 814Nm. Expect to see a number of these HSV’s tucked away under wraps, only to surface many decades from now with a truly ridiculous price tag. Do you have any cars that you think should be on this list? Head over to the Rare Spares Facebook page and let us know in the comments below.

The Final Holden built on Australian Shores

The final Holden built on Australian shores has rolled off the Elizabeth production line. On October 20 at 10:45am, the final four Australian built Holden’s were ‘officially’ completed with a red VFII SSV Redline Commodore the final to leave the facility. The Commodore, on black wheels with a manual transmission was the 7,687,675th Holden built and will be kept and used as a museum piece. The other cars down the production line on October 20 were the final Holden ute (SS), wagon (Calais) and ‘limousine’ (Caprice). With a 6.2 litre LS3 up front, the last SS will also go down as Holden’s fastest production model to date with 304kw and 570nm on offer (Not including HSV models). With accessories that include FE3 suspension, a sunroof and HUD, the final commodore is testament to the journey Australian built cars have come on over the last 7 decades. In terms of power, safety and usability the final Commodore (and Falcon for that matter) is hardly bettered in terms of ‘bang-for-buck’. After 69 years of manufacturing, Holden ceased manufacturing operations in October, leaving hundreds unemployed and bringing an end to a huge part of Australia’s manufacturing history. Employees were taken by bus to the Adelaide Oval for final knock-off drinks and treated to a show by the legendary Jimmy Barnes. The Elizabeth plant, in Northern Adelaide has been sold to an unidentified owner who will turn the facility into a business park. With this closure, we bid an official farewell to Australian automotive manufacturing and look back at the many classics produced on our shores. Stay tuned to the Rare Spares Blog where we will continue to take a look at the many classics produced on Australian shores. Do you have any Holden stories you would like to share? Head over to the Rare Spares Facebook page and let us know in the comments below.  

The Kia Stinger - a New Favourite?

The long awaited Kia Stinger has finally hit Australian roads over the past 6 weeks and we are getting our first look at how the Australian public is reacting to the Korean hatch/sedan which is being dubbed as a potential Commodore and Falcon replacement. While it’s by no means perfect, initial reviews of the range-topping Stinger GT have been overwhelmingly positive. The Stinger GT has to get a number of runs under its belt before it can truly be considered a car that will replace some of Australia’s most loved cars; but it has gotten off to a great start! The Good Straight off the bat, the appearance of the Stinger GT is great, and the latest and greatest in a line of Kia’s over the last 10 years that have progressively gotten better and better in terms of both appearance and performance. The sleek lines of the Stinger result in an exceptionally efficient aerodynamic package while large vents in the front and at all four corners serve to keep both the 3.3 litre twin-turbo’d engine and Brembo brakes cool. Packing 272kw and 510nm the GT has plenty of go, and will at least match, if not better 0-100 times of both the Commodore SS and XR6 Turbo Falcon of years past. The interior is neat, polished and will rival that of any in the sub $60K price bracket, with a ‘squared-off’ steering wheel and a sporty driving position contributing to the overall premium feel of the car. The 8 Speed Automatic Transmission is a truly impressive unit, taking like a duck to water to Australia’s driving conditions and contributing towards a ‘real-life’ fuel consumption of around 8L/100km on the open roads and around 11.5L/100km during normal city driving. The GT’s suspension has also received positive reviews, with a sports mode coping with all but the most spirited of driving while the comfort mode provides a compliant ride in more traditional driving scenarios. Overall, there is a lot to like about Kia’s new Halo car. The Not So Good One of the major reasons both the Commodore and Falcon were so popular for so many years was the ability to comfortably seat 5 adults, and a family holiday with 3 kids and the Caravan in tow was a walk in the park. Unless your name was Aaron Sandilands you probably weren’t going to be complaining of a lack of head room either. This is one area that the Stinger falls flat, as a result of the slightly smaller dimensions all round, the Stinger will not comfortably carry 5 adults, nor will it provide ample headroom for those of us north of 6-feet tall. Towing Capacity is at 1500kg while the down-ball rating is a meagre 75kgs, which means this will likely not be a suitable option for those with caravans, larger boats or anything particularly heavy that requires towing. Perhaps the most griped about disappointment is the sound coming out of the Stinger GT’s standard exhaust. The GT, with the standard exhaust is quiet, too quiet for a performance car. Fortunately Kia realised the issue and has fast-tracked an optional bi-modal exhaust which should be available before year end for $2659.99. Videos of the new exhaust system show a much throatier sounding note, more akin to that of typical sports cars. The Verdict The Stinger GT is a very good car which is sure to prove itself a hit with the Australian public, is it a like-for-like replacement for the departing Aussie classics? Not quite. While it ticks the RWD and performance boxes, it doesn’t quite match the Commodore and Falcon in terms of usability or ‘street-cred’. The Stinger GT however will be considered one of the best value for money sports sedans in the world, taking the fight to many higher credential offerings from its European rivals. What do you think of the new Kia Stinger GT? Head over to the Rare Spares Facebook page and let us know in the comments section below.