It’s often debated how far you can push a stock-bottom-end Barra before it’ll give up the ghost, so Phil Dynon is either one lucky cat or he has discovered the secret sauce to keeping the virtually untouched ‘Aussie 2J’ that powers his F6 Typhoon sucking well over 30psi of boost without a fuss.

“All we’ve done to the engine is the valve springs, the head studs one at a time with the head still on, and pulled the front cover to do the oil pump and timing gear,” says Phil. “I’ve really enjoyed pushing the original engine, even if it has gone well beyond where we ever intended to go with it.”

The F6 is 30-year-old Phil’s second car, following on from his BA XR6 that he ran 14s in as a young tacker. “I looked into turboing the XR6, but for the cost at the time, I figured I may as well spend more and get a car, so I found this F6,” he says. “It was never intended to be what it is now; it’s definitely been a car of progression rather than a thoroughly planned-out, eight-second build from the start.”

Since he got the Typhoon in 2018, when he was fresh off his Ps, Phil has slowly been transforming it into the low nine-second, Drag Challenge-proven machine it is now. A big part of that was making the key decision to back-half the car, which Phil says has made a huge difference.

“We snapped dozens of axles with the IRS and I got fed up with it, so my good mate Ryan from Race Pipes sorted the rear end with new sheet metal for the rear clip, the diff housing and so on. He’s done all the major fab on this car,” says Phil. “It not only makes it a way better drag car, but it gives it a much better presence and a look that I love, so it’s a win all ’round!”

A mechanic by trade, Phil has handled the rest of the build himself. All the original turbo gear has been binned, replaced by a 6boost manifold with piping work from Race Pipes. Completing the hot side is a Pulsar G42-1450 turbo, feeding through a Plazmaman intercooler and intake manifold. Fuel is E85, fed from a pair of Walbro 460 pumps to 2520cc injectors, all managed by a Haltech Elite Pro Plug-In Barra ECU.

Phil uses Zane Heath at Maxx Performance to deal with his tuning needs, and the last time it was on Maxx’s dyno, it made 653kW (875hp) at the hubs through the MDT-built Turbo 400. “That was on around 30psi, but we play around with more than that at the track,” says Phil. “I can’t speak highly enough of Zane. He gets what I’m after and works with me for that, and I think he is a big reason this original, stock-bottom-end engine is still holding together! He keeps the timing conservative, but he’s still into me chasing goals with this engine, which is great.”

Phil has taken on our five-day Drag Challenge event in both 2023 and 2024, earning third place in the PSR 9.5 Radial index class last year.

“I did the event three times as crew beforehand, and the first time in the F6, we just wanted an average of nines all week, which we did,” he says. “So, when you guys introduced the index classes, it gave us something to race for, so we targeted that 9.50 and got a podium, which was awesome – and we barely spun a spanner all week!”

Since then, Phil’s run a PB of 9.11@155mph – and he isn’t done yet. “We’ll be going testing soon, and hopefully we can sneak it into the eights; that would be an awesome achievement with the original engine,” he says. “If it stays together, we’ll do Drag Challenge this year as it is, and I am piecing together a new engine in the background with some fruitier bits so we can hopefully retire this one before it gives out.”

You’ll be able to see Phil defend his podium place in the PSR 9.5 Radial index class at Street Machine Drag Challenge 2025, 28 October to 2 November.

PHIL DYNON
2008 FPV BF F6 TYPHOON

Class:

PSR 9.5 Radial

THANKS
Ryan at Race Pipes; Zane Heath at Maxx Performance; Matt at MDT; my mates Brad, Steve and Cooper.