Alexis Margaritis’s seven-second LC Torana on the dyno

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, with 11:1 compression and a massive GT57 106mm turbo located front and centre. For tuning, the LC runs a Haltech Nexus R5, PD16 PDM and dual keypads – one solely for traction control and boost targets to make it as easy as possible to adjust the car on the fly during DC.

After hitting the dyno at QuickBitz in Melbourne, Alexis headed to SA’s Dragway at the Bend for some testing. “There was next to no track prep on the day, so no result,” he says. Let’s hope the crew can get a pass or two in before Drag Challenge

“Stix at QuickBitz has given us a broad range of tunes to choose from depending on the conditions,” Alexis says. “We run methanol at the track and pump 98 on the street. The Haltech adjusts the tune as the methanol content drops out; it is so easy.”

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The new combo made a best of 1628hp at the hubs at 28psi on the QuickBitz dyno, before heading to Dragway at the Bend for testing.

“You’ve really got to have a passion to do it from Tassie; it puts you up against it,” Alexis says. “As the year goes on and you’re trying to improve the car, you need to get over to the mainland to test, and hope you get good weather! Drag Challenge has great camaraderie, which is what keeps us coming back.”

The plates on Alexis’s LC read, ‘let’s see boost’, which is no doubt a statement of intent for the Torana’s 2025 Drag Challenge campaign in the Power Plus Racing Fuels Outlaw Blown class

The Torana was built in Alexis’s shed, with lots of people chipping in. “I bought it off Mark Whitla and Darby Hamilton as a shell,” he explains. “From there, I’ve had multiple people dedicated to it. Pete Eastley is the crew chief and the engineer – he built the chassis. Heath Carroll did the fabrication, Marcel from Reincarnated Classics did the paint, and Martin Croall did the electricals. I’m really appreciative for the help of all those people and more.”