Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Street Machine

WE NEED to have an honest chat about a big problem being faced by the Aussie car scene at the moment. All over Australia, the modified car community is being actively targeted by the authorities. That in itself is nothing new; street machiners have been at odds with The Man since the dawn of time, and that will likely never change. The difference right now is the extent to which the car community is being singled out. The amount of government resources currently being dedicated to hunting down modified cars and defecting them off the road is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, especially in NSW. I believe it’s a disgusting overreach, and completely disproportionate to any perceived ‘risk’ these cars may pose to the broader community. However – and…

WE FIRST met Taswegian Alexis Margaritis’s stunning LC Torana at Drag Challenge 2022-’23. The car looked amazing, but various gremlins were too much to overcome on that first hit-out. Alexis bowed out on Day Two, but returned on Day Five for some exhibition passes. The 2023 event was a different story, with the 427ci, single-turbo weapon cracking the seven-second zone and claiming the coveted red cap. After a year off, Alexis is back with a revised combo and is ready to swing for the fences. “After speaking with Damian at BG Engines, I asked him to build me a new combo with slightly less cubes and aluminium rods, with a view to pushing it as far as possible with the chassis we have,” says Alexis. The new engine displaces 400ci,…

WE WERE all hoping Paul Wood’s 632ci, full-fat LJ Torana was going to give Kemppi Radial Aspirated class dominator Al Vella and his Mk1 Capri a run for their money last year, but it just wasn’t meant to be. “We fought the car the whole way leading into the event, then a coil-over collapsed in the front on the road out of Mildura, so we were out,” laments Paul. “I guess those fancy Menscer shocks were no match for Victoria’s potholes! Nothing really went right for us; it was frustrating, but that’s cars!” Last year was Paul’s third crack at the event, so he’s hoping that fourth time is the charm in the improved and enhanced LJ. The Sunset Performance Engines 632 fatty was a single-carb deal last year but…

JASON Vyner’s cleverly disguised Nissan XFN ute has been a regular at Drag Challenge, but it’s liable to make even more noise this year with the introduction of the new Unrivaled Engineering Stick-Shift class. “I think it’s great. There’s lots of variety with all the manual cars, so to put them all together in their own class is grouse,” Jason says. The ute runs an aspirated 363ci Windsor, chucking 400rwhp through the five-speed ’box to a nine-inch diff. “The gearbox is a T5 but with a G-Force case with an old Astro A5 gearset,” says Jason. “So, you still have to use the clutch to shift it, just like how it should be done!” Jason’s current PB over the quarter sits in the low 12s, but he has hopes of…

Sydney meet-up YOUNG Street Machine of the Year is an initiative we’re particularly proud of, and one we feel is worth celebrating. With 2025 YSMOTY sponsor Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse having retail outlets in most capital cities, it created an opportunity to stage some nationwide cars-and-coffee events so we could hang out with the finalists and provide them with the chance to drum up some last-minute votes. So, back in August – just prior to voting coming to a close – we put the word out, and YSMOTY finalists and the broader street machining community polished up their rides and rocked up in droves to Hare & Forbes Machineryhouses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth for a free cuppa, a doughnut and a chinwag. Five of our 16 finalists…

CRUISING the backroads of Australia with your mates is one of the greatest experiences you will ever have with your street machine. Fortunately, the proliferation of drag-and-drive events over the past decade or so has provided us with many and varied opportunities to do just that, from our own Street Machine Drag Challenge to events like Hot Rod Drag Week or Rocky Mountain Race Week in the US. After all, who wouldn’t want to be a part of a convoy of tough, road-pounding monsters driving from track to track to battle it out for bragging rights? The latest Aussie event of this type was the inaugural Allstars Drag & Drive in July, hosted by Queensland duo Daniel Düll and Daniel Case. “Queensland has a really strong car culture, and there’d…

MANY consider the first Street Machine Nationals in Griffith over the 1975 Easter long weekend to be the birth of street machining here in Australia. With 2025 marking the 50th anniversary of this formative event, the organisers of Griffith’s Biggest Lap charity event have invited a select group of legendary street machines and notable personalities to headline this year’s Lap on the weekend of 4-5 October. The invite list includes a veritable who’s who from the past 50 years of Australian street machining, including Tony Ross and his immaculate FC Holden (SM, Aug ’22), winner of Top Street Machine Overall at the first Nationals. Peter Fitzpatrick is also bringing his multi-award-winning FC (SM, Nov ’10); Rod and Carol Hadfield will be there with their Lincoln lowrider; John McCoy-Lancaster is rolling…

WE HOSTED cars-and-coffee events at Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse stores all over the country in late August to celebrate our Young Street Machine of the Year competition (see p. 96 for the full lowdown!). Cars of all makes and models were welcome, and it was a chance for their owners to enjoy a quality brew and a chat. At the Brisbane event, we bumped into Josh Soxsmith and his 1977 Trans Am, and discovered a man who’s doing his bit for the South East Queensland car community. That’s a tidy Pontiac, mate! How did you come across it? I found it on Facebook Marketplace, and it was incorrectly listed, so I got it for a bit of a steal. I was looking for a two-door V8, but Monaros have all…

WINNER JACK ‘SWIFTY’ MILL – SUZUKI SWIFT YOUR 2025 Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse Young Street Machine of the Year winner is Jack ‘Swifty’ Mill and his oh-so-rad Suzuki Swift burnout car. Initially pegged as a cheap and cheerful way for Jack to rip skids, SWIFTY quickly evolved into an impressively engineered, well-presented skid car that can bang tyres with the best of them. Jack and his lovely misso Lara tour all around the country competing in skid comps, focusing on getting kids involved in the car scene and spreading awareness around men’s mental health issues in the process. Jack has scored a $3000 cash prize, plus a $1000 Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse voucher and a $200 Street Machine merch voucher. Congratulations on winning YSMOTY, legend! Thanks! It was awesome to…

THE 2025 running of Street Machine Drag Challenge will be the 10th instalment of our full-fat, five-day drag-and-drive extravaganza. It will also be the biggest event in our history, with over 280 rigs lined up to take on the ultimate challenge for street cars Down Under. There are a stack of top-notch contenders coming, with the likes of Terry Seng, Keith Hards, Mark Drew, Adam Rogash and more fighting it out for top honours. In this preview, we’ll look at several first-time Drag Challenge racers, some old friends who have rejigged their rides, and a couple of long-time competitors who are overdue for some well-earned ink. For info and tickets, visit dragchallenge.com.au. DAVID & TIM FETTELL VOLVO 240 WAGON PSR 8.5 RADIAL HAVING already built a BMW M3-powered Datsun 240Z,…

WE LOVE a good sleeper on Drag Challenge, and Deni Dave’s latest addition is probably one of the sleepiest we’ve seen in a long time. Best known for his survivor Cannonball Cup ZF Fairlane that he’s road-tripped all over the country, Dave probably wasn’t one you’d pick to own a 2002 Suzuki Vitara. So, why does he? Because it’s running an LS and nitrous, of course! “I purchased the car off a good mate of mine from Queensland, so I already knew all the details,” says Dave. “It drives bloody beautiful, and it’s a nice surprise for people when you take it to the drag strip!” The LS1 sports a different bumpstick, with a valvetrain to match, and a 200-shot of nitrous. Dave says it’s good for 586rwhp through the…

JAMMING a late-model engine into your classic car and inflating it with forced induction is arguably the smart way to go fast these days. However, there are still bold souls like Peter Raditsas out there rocking it old-school for their street toughie. Peter ran the more-door HG Holden in the 235 Aspirated class at Drag Challenge 2024, where it ran a best of 10.7. “I bought the car painted, just as a cruiser,” he explains. “Because I help Donny Zurcas at Drag Challenge with his Capri, I figured I should build something tougher.” Under the HG’s bonnet is a stout Chevy small-block. Swinging 406 cubes and 12.4:1 compression, it’s based off a Dart block, with a 1050cfm Pro Systems Dominator carb, Motown manifold, Dart Pro 1 215cc heads that have…

MARK Reynolds is back for vengeance at Drag Challenge ’25, seeking to avenge his failed attempt at a finish on his DC debut last year. “We melted a piston on the second last day, so I was really annoyed we couldn’t get that final pass and finish the event,” says Mark. “So, I’ll be out to redeem that.” The melted piston was not the only major issue Mark’s Supra Mk3 encountered at DC last year. The G-Series diff exploded on the first day of racing at Mildura. “We smashed the internals to bits, but luckily they’re the same as HiLux and Crown,” he says. “So, we found some absolute legends locally who had bits, made it work, slammed it back into the car in the Mildura pits and were the…

I FIRST got into bitumen-track racing through building the fastest Holden in Queensland. This was a green FE Holden sedan, which I built for John Reilly to drive, sponsored by the entire Reilly family. The FE was initially developed for racing by the owner of the BP service station where John worked, and I took over when I started there as a mechanic. At that stage, the car was a whole heap of parts and not much else, although the block had been bored to suit 12:1 Westlite pistons. I built it from there, fitting long ram intakes holding three 38mm SU carbs. I also added four-into-two-into-one Hunter & Delbridge exhaust extractors and a Waggott 35/70 full race cam. A new worked cylinder head came from Sydney, with big ports…

SUPERCARS SUPRA TOYOTA Australia has pulled the covers off its first real-deal GR Supra Supercars racer, with former racer and broadcaster Neil Crompton strapping into the prototype for a drive at Toyota’s Altona testing facility in Melbourne. The ‘Supracar’ (below) will use a 5.2L Toyota V8, loosely the same as the one in the Lexus LC500 here. Six cars will enter the paddock from both Walkinshaw and Brad Jones Racing. Although this current A90 Supra is about to be axed globally, Toyota says a new-generation Supra will be out in 2027, with the road-going car rumoured to also have V8 power. SUMMER HITS THE music line-up for Street Machine Summernats 38 is going to be a cracker, with The Living End, The Screaming Jets and Killing Heidi set to light…

TUFF Mounts frontman Jason Waye might just be Street Machine Drag Challenge’s most staunch supporter. Not only has he been on board as a sponsor of the event since its infancy, but he also never misses an opportunity to join in on the fun as an entrant. Over the years, he’s competed in an LS1-powered Sigma, a 10-second VS Commodore ute with a Barra in the engine bay, and a sleepy LT1-powered HQ wagon. But the spiciest of all his Drag Challenge steeds is his Barra-powered Fox-body Mustang, which ran as quick as 9.20@154mph with a stock-bottom-end six-pot, G42 turbo and 235 radials. Now, with help from MPW Performance, the Mustang is getting cranked up to 11. Gone is the old Barra, replaced by the built one from our Carnage…

ORIGINALLY a humble 161, three-on-the-tree farm ute, Kyle Bray’s sleepy HK has progressed from that to a 304 Holden V8, and now to a 700rwhp turbo LS combo that’s in the final stages of being prepared for this year’s event. “I was crew with Mitch Pullen and his turbo-LS HiLux at the 2018 event, and I loved it!” says Kyle. “I’ve always missed out on doing it again for one reason or another, and this year I missed out on a Summernats entry, so I thought: ‘Bugger it, I’m doing it!’” The LS1 in the HK has recently been refreshed with upgraded rods and pistons, and feeding it is an 80mm Pulsar turbo. “I love their turbos; for the value for money, you just can’t beat them,” Kyle says. With…

DAVID Lorinc is prepping for a third crack at a Drag Challenge, this time moving to the Enthusiast Motor Insurance Outlaw Aspirated class as he chases glory with his 383 stroker Iron Lion-powered VH Commodore. “When we did the event previously, the last two years in DYO and then the 9.5 index class, we were running nitrous, and it got close to the mid-nines, but we were really pushing our luck with this engine, and Holden V8s are expensive to build!” says David. “So, we’ve gone back to just running aspo, and the goal is to run a nine with an all-motor Holden.” It’s a fair target to chase, and with the VH packing 650hp, a Turbo 400 and a fresh nine-inch, David’s looking forward to the ET hunt. “I’m…

BRISBANE’S Pete Bellars is a man of eclectic tastes. Before embarking on this Volvo build, his most recent project was a Model T Ford – not a hot rod, but a legit vintage car with wooden wheels and all the danger. “I had an Austin 7, too,” Pete says. “Vintage cars are tinkering in its most pure form, but man, they’re slow!” Pete’s car portfolio has also included RX-7s, RX-8s and V8 Holdens, so it was anyone’s guess as to what he’d build next. I WASN’T REALLY SURE WHAT CAR I WANTED – ONLY THAT IT HAD TO BE A BIT COMICAL He’d been happily chugging along in his Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when fate intervened in the form of Jamie Spiller. “Jamie started at my work, and we became…

WE CAR bores love to ponder what’ll be the next hotness, and the BMW N54 six-cylinder may just be the next platform to rise up against the force of RBs, JZs, and Barras. With a 3.0-litre capacity, and in most cases twin-turbocharged, the DOHC Beemer six certainly boasts the basic ingredients for a pretty spicy dish. Intrigued by that idea, Mark Heyward nabbed a cheap 2007 BMW 335i with its original N54 to find out if the combo would make a good budget alternative to those aforementioned six-pots. “After watching a friend spend $80,000 building a reliable, nine-second F6 Typhoon, I set myself a goal of buying and building a high-nine-second car for Drag Challenge ’24 with a total budget of $45,000,” Mark explains. The South Australian road-tripped to Sydney…