MATT Britnell’s XY Falcon has to be one of the best-finished cars from the inaugural Street Machine Drag Challenge Weekend. Visually it looks every bit a show car with its candy brown paint, colour-coded bumpers, big-inch billet wheels and stunning custom caramel interior. But while it may look seriously neat, Matt reckons it was a budget build that took the best part of six years to complete.

You’re probably thinking what’s under the ’66 Mustang bonnet scoop is equally as exotic as the interior and exterior, but you’d be wrong! Sorry purists, but Matt has gone with a Dart-headed LS1 donk that’s good for 420rwhp. Backing the LS is a Tremec six-speed manual and Truetrac-equipped nine-inch diff with 4.11 gears.

Matt only had a handful of runs under his belt before taking the car on Drag Challenge Weekend, so his goal was to just go as quick as possible and have fun doing it. On Day One at Willowbank, Matt handed in his best timeslip of 12.32@112mph before making the trek over to Warwick Dragway for Day Two.

Before he could start racing again, Matt had to fix a niggly oil-pressure switch leak. He then finished up the day with a 7.97@88mph across the eighth, which put him in the top 15 cars in the Turbosmart Dial-Your-Own class. He saw out the week with a 12.38@110mph on the final day at Willowbank Raceway and drove the car home in one piece.