650hp, crossflow-powered Mk1 Cortina ready for Spring Nationals 2024

Mark Jachmann’s nitrous-huffing Cortina is ready for action at the Street Machine Spring Nationals this weekend

Share
Photographers: Michelle Porobic

The 2024 Street Machine Sportsman Spring Nationals will go big at Dragway at The Bend in South Australia this weekend, with cars like Mark Jachmann’s sweet little Mk1 Cortina part of the bumper field.

Mark will be running in the Super Sedan category, one of the many dial-in classes for cars at the event, this one using a 10.99-8.50 index. “The aim is to run around 9.6 on the weekend, so it should be good fun,” says Mark.

To date, Mark’s Cortina has a PB of 9.58@135mph to its name, which the South Aussie local ran recently at The Bend. “We’re always tweaking it to get slightly quicker, and even for this event, I’m playing with rear shock absorber angles to see how that goes,” he says.

Sending power to the big slicks underneath the Corty is a good ol’ Ford crossflow six, huffing down a shedload of nitrous and using Autronic EFI to produce 650hp at the flywheel. We first came across the wicked combo in Victoria at the Ford-Powered Nationals at Heathcote Park Raceway in 2022, when it was a fresh build. “That was its first year; I’d been building it on and off since 2006,” says Mark.

At the Ford-Powered Nats, he ran a best of 10.03@137mph, but that also killed his engine. “I lost 40psi of oil pressure on that run, so we parked it on the trailer, and I later found the engine block had basically split apart,” says Mark. “So, the engine that’s in it now is based on an XE Falcon block.”

Since then, Mark has done a whole host of events, including winning the first round of the The Bend Track Championship in September.

With the nitrous engaged, Mark estimates the combo puts out around 550hp at the wheels via the C4 transmission and big slicks. He’s hoping to get deeper into the 9.5s, and eventually, a Barra may make its way into the Corty’s engine bay. 

“I’m not done with this platform yet,” Mark says. “I’ve got another crossflow engine in the build, and once I’m done with that, I might explore that [Barra] path.”

You can see Mark’s Cortina in action at the Street Machine Spring Nationals at Dragway at The Bend, 18-20 October. Grab your spectator tickets here.

Comments