295KM/H XY Circuit Racer

Operating out of Tilley’s Automotive in Brookvale, the Tilley Family constructed this XY Falcon to take on the Touring Car Masters series. They have been racing it for a number of years now, and have held their heads high, taking it up to the best of them including big names like Jim Richards, John Bowe and Andrew Miedecke.

At the heart of this classic model Falcon is a 630hp 351ci Ford V8 with CHI alloy heads, a Callies crank, Carrillo rods, JE Pistons and a custom-grind camshaft. The motor happily revs past 6000rpm and will do it for an hour at a time if necessary.

Atop this thundering beast is a Doug Nash intake manifold with eight alloy trumpets that help the car achieve a top speed of 295km/h on Bathurst’s Conrod Straight.

The shifter is connected to a Jericho 4-speed that’s fronted by a Tilton clutch. Drive is then transferred via a thick-wall driveshaft to a 9in diff with a spool centre. The diff ratio is changed to suit each track, and to suit each rev limit whenever a lower one is imposed as a success penalty.

Like its counterparts in the Touring Car Masters series, the interior looks like that of a Touring Car from about 22 years ago, not 42. Note the sports seats and switchgear, but the retention of analogue gauges.

Just like other cars in the TCM field, the car carries a passenger’s racing seat, not that we’ve ever seen them take passengers in a race.

Also like Touring cars from about 22 years ago, the XY has a comprehensive steel cage structure welded into a factory body shell. Note the extensive use of cross bracing and the compulsory retention of the back seat to ensure the nostalgic feel of the car continues inside.

The front suspension is somewhat conventional with Eibach springs, Penske shocks, a hefty sway bar and pivot point relocations to improve the castor and camber angles (both static and dynamic). The rear suspension retains its leaf springs, but a custom adjustable Watts link and adjustable rear sway bar improve the handling dramatically.

The front brakes are Willwood 4-piston calipers and discs, whilst the 15in rims over them are from Vintage Wheel Works. The control tyres are Hoosier items that claim to be road legal, but have no tread to speak of so they’re more of a racing tyre.

The body and paint are the handiwork of Cameron Tilley of Tilley’s Corporate Smash Repairs. There’s a bit of bump and grind in this series, so it’s no mean feat keeping the XY looking this good all the time.

Now that you’ve read about this family built and raced XY, take a ride on-board the thunderous beast as Tilley dices with Jim Richards and John Bowe at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway. It handles the corners well, has some serious grunt in a straight line and sounds awesome to boot!