Aussie Drag Torana To Debut In America

This time two months ago, this little Holden Torana was a bare shell with an unpainted roll cage, no floor, and just had a set of custom carbon tubs fitted. With only a few things mocked up for fitting, the boys had their work cut out for them. Luke designed and built the chassis and suspension; he had a clear vision of what he wanted and is not one to back away from a good race.

Fast forward to Sunday, 24th September, Luke and the team held a special gathering at the MotorFab shed for the unveiling of the newly finished NPK weapon. When the covers came off, the crowd was blown away by the results.

What used to be a bare patchy shell is now a completely rebuilt street outlaw machine. The first thing that catches your eye is the custom mix ‘MotorFab Blue’, based off the factory Cambridge Blue with a lot more silver metallic and purple pearl to make this rocket pop all the way down the strip.

The body and paint were done by Nathan Taylor and Dylan Lace, who, within the time frame, did an outstanding job. Running the length of the body is a custom MotorFab decal, a tough race-style decal in respect of the Holden era. The interior has an impact that you can see popping from the outside. Opening the door, you can see this is much more than your normal drag style cockpit.

“I think the trim is a big part of what sets this car apart from many other race cars, and I couldn't be happier with how the finished product looks! All the trimming was done by Darren Kemp at Track Side Trimming.” The colour is based off the original LJ stylings with the mix of Tan leather accents, metallic brown roll cage that rolls into the dash and plenty of carbon fibre.

“This car is incredibly light! Starting with a light car helps; an LJ Torana is 500lbs lighter than the lightest fox body mustang to begin with! But the real weight saving is in all the carbon work! Ryan Bushell at Carbon Lab came on board and has been a massive support in not only making this car incredibly light but also look incredibly sexy with all that carbon fibre.”

The team at Haltech have come on board to control everything with the new Nexus ECU platform. Luke is a huge fan of the Haltech product and having tuned with most of the ECUs on the market, the Haltech is definitely his favourite to work and tune with.

“We are running some really cool new power management features on this car which have only been made possible with the help of Matt Whiting from Haltech.”

Keeping in mind the last time we saw this Lil’ beast it had the dummy engine filling the bay while the new small block Chevy was in the capable hands of Robby Abbott at Abbott Engines.

Robby was able to work with Noonan Race Engineering in South Carolina on fitting the engine out with some custom top fuel hoops. This setup should comfortably hold 70-80psi of boost! The engine itself is a 400ci Dart Little M block, Dart Heads which Robby extensively modified, Callies crank, custom Oliver rods and RaceTech pistons. Adding some extra fun with the Twin 79mm mirror image ball bearing G42 units, supplied by our sponsors Pulsar Turbos.

Backing this combo is a billet internalised Powerglide with external and internal ECU controlled dump valves, running a billet bolt-together converter all built by James Horan at Full Race. Running consistent trans temps every time you go to the start line is a big part of being able to put the right tune in for the road.

“A difference in trans temp massively affects how much power you put to the tire, so if your trans temps are inconsistent good chance your tune-ups will be too! We are proudly sponsored by and running the latest trans pit cooler from Craig and Kelly Banks at Banks Race Products.”

Manufactured right here in Australia, BRP has some great features with the first inlet and outlet filters, runs both 240/110 volts, inbuilt filter, can run on either Milwaukee or Makita batteries and has quick release.
Race products supplied Luke with their 40-spline full floating axle setup, in an amazing turnaround time to make this goal possible.

It’s crazy to think that the exactitude of this much fabrication and styling was put together in just a short eight weeks. Luke is extremely grateful and knows things like this don’t happen without great people.

“I'd like to thank the guys at Lithiumax for sponsoring us, Rob and Deb Abbott for the hours and dedication they have put into this engine. James at Full Race has been a massive support in both of my race cars. Craig and Tanya Thompson at EFI Parts Australia, and everyone that’s helped pull this together.”

With the build finished, it's time to pack her into the container for its maiden voyage to PRI. You’ll find this weapon at the Redwood Rally booth. Redwood Rally is a drag and drive challenge that runs along the West Coast/Pacific Northwest. Usually running on the East Coast, this is a massive opening for the drag industry in the West.

Jesse Adams from Redwood Rally helped Luke on the build on his last visit from the states and now he's ready to repay the great Aussie hospitality and showcase Luke's epic build as part of his booth. This is going to be one very fast, very cool Aussie car ruffling some American feathers in the fast lane. We wish Luke and the team the best of luck at both PRI and on the tracks in the land of the free.