Anthony Meskos’s Barra-powered FPV F6 KNGFPV, is one of the toughest six-bangers to ever grace the pages of Street Machine. What started as a daily hack for towing jet skis and hauling dirt bikes has snowballed into a street-and-strip monster powered by a billet, 3.8-litre Barra jammed with an incredible 73psi of boost in full flight mode.

First published in the May 2026 issue of Street Machine

In fact, it’s the quickest and fastest Barra Falcon in the world, capable of 2500rwhp and low-seven-second quarter-mile passes at nearly 200mph – even at a hefty 3730lb track weight.

“At the time, I was just looking for a tough streeter,” says Anthony of how the ute came into his life. “It had a stock F6 engine that made around 500kW [670hp], and I wanted to max out the motor.”

Unfortunately, that soon resulted in the stock ZF transmission breaking, and a few months later, the rebuilt trans exited the program in much the same fashion. Anthony decided a TH400 was the answer, and, knowing where this story was heading, bought one from US-based gurus M&M Transmission, complete with a two-stage lock-up and dual converter dumps. Oh, and let’s not forget a billet bolt-together converter to match!

It was a clear turning point for Anthony, who then tapped Daniel at NextGen Race Cars to lead the charge on a pretty hefty overhaul of the ute.

First, a built Barra motor was sourced from Marketplace with Nitto rods and pistons. “While the car was at the shop, it went through no less than four turbo upgrades before it fired a single shot,” Anthony explains. “We started with a 35/82, then a G45-1450, then a GTX47 88mm, and finally a G57 106mm Garrett.”

The shopping list definitely didn’t end there, with the motor also copping a Plazmaman billet intake, 6boost exhaust manifold and belt-driven external oil pump. The ute’s rear end was kitted out with a Race Products sheet-metal, chrome-moly nine-inch diff housing with a full-floater kit and 40-spline axles, while the stock springs were swapped out for Gazzard Brothers leaf springs. Then there was the six-point rollcage, race seats, fuel cell, cooler pipes, side exhaust, and a switch to methanol fuel.

“We finally got the engine running with the G57 turbo and broke it in on the dyno at 700rwkW [938hp],” Anthony says. “So, we pulled the engine, added a billet crank, new rods and pistons, and a heavily ported head.” On its next date with the dyno, the revitalised straight-six knocked out 1500hp at the tyres – not bad!

Looking to improve even further, Anthony sent the ute to Jamie at Forced Performance & Tuning, who took it to a massive 1820rwhp on 50psi of boost!

But he wasn’t out of the woods just yet. “We headed to the track, and straight up, it split a bore on an 8.1-second pass,” he says. Not to be discouraged, he began simultaneously developing two new mills: a de-stroked 3.8-litre based on a fully grouted factory block, and a billet motor to be built by Dandy Engines. Talk about commitment!

The de-stroked motor was given a Nitto Pro Drag billet crank and alloy rods, Barnes four-stage dry sump and a Waterman 18.5-gallon fuel pump, with the fuel system stepped up from two sets of Deka 2400cc injectors to a set of Atomizer 9500cc jobbies as the secondaries. Other upgrades included modifying the factory head to accept a solid valvetrain with billet rockers. This new combination made a super-impressive 2000rwhp on 53psi, turning to 10,300rpm! Sadly, the head failed after a 7.85@154mph lick, so it was back to the drawing board once more.

“We had broken a head before on the dyno, and we got sick of listening to all the gossip on how the heads should be set up,” Anthony says. “We decided to send a factory head to Rams Head Service in Sydney for porting, dry deck and new seats.”

Next, Anthony sent the head to Chris Milton Engine Developments: “They were the only ones who would support us to go back to a hydraulic valvetrain. We changed direction from solid valvetrain and went with new custom valves, different valvetrain installed heights, and internal bracing in the oil galleries, lifter bores and cam caps.”

The boys fitted the upgraded head with fire rings and ARP 627 bolts, then went to the track, where the ute reeled off a 7.32@195mph!

“We ended up with 85 passes on the motor and decided to hit it with some new conrods, as there was a private track hire approaching. When we blew it all apart, we found the crank had a 6thou bend,” Anthony says. The plan now was to put the cast head on the billet engine that Dandy Engines had built for the car. It was a nice piece, with a Bullet block, EN40B billet crank, and Nitto alloy rods and pistons. The factory head was fitted with a Crow cam on the exhaust and an Atomic cam on the intake.

The ute responded well, going from 153mph over the eighth-mile to 161mph, but it started to get aero issues in the top of the track, which was picking up the rear end. At the 2026 GT-R Festival at Sydney Dragway, the ute got closer than ever with a scorching 7.11@200mph.

Now it’s just a matter of the F6 slowly clawing its way towards the sixes. Whether it will get there remains to be seen, but for Anthony, it’s been a hell of a ride either way.

“One thing this journey has taught us is that the cylinder head is the real Achilles’ heel of these engine packages,” he says. “Our approach has been somewhat unconventional, but we now have over 100 passes on our modified design, and there is word of a new head about to be released for these motors.

“The highlight has definitely been the support we have received. There is nothing better than going to the track with the crew, having an issue and people working together to get a result.

“I need to thank Jamie at Forced Performance for the ongoing tuning; Liam at Riverside Racing; DesignWire; Dan at NextGen Race Cars; Frank at Dandy Engines; Chris Milton Engine Developments; the crew – Tommy at Dyno House, Harley James and Steve Zammit; and Nicholas and Michael at Northmead Auto Centre,” Anthony says. “Oh, and we can’t forget Alex Whitehead, who has been with us every step of the way steering the R&D on our ideas.”

ROCKET SCIENCE

By the time you read this, Anthony will have put the ute through its paces at Sydney Jamboree, after which he plans to pull the engine and transmission and have it fitted to one of the most successful radial cars of all time – the ex-Brett LaSala ‘Snot Rocket 2.0’ Mustang!

Anthony is teaming up with Tommy Pronobis at Dyno House to run the car with the Barra driveline, and they have a huge racing program planned. Aside from wanting to run deep into the sixes and possibly even have a crack at a five, the boys intend to campaign the Mustang at major Aussie events like Street Machine Drag Challenge 2026, and eventually return the car to the United States to run at Hot Rod Drag Week and Sick Week!

The ’Stang recently landed Down Under and the boys have begun the process of swapping in the Barra driveline. Barra the world, indeed!