Twin-turbo EL Falcon GT at Drag Challenge 2024

Dale and Bryan rocked into Calder Park for DC 2024 in their genuine EL GT, fresh off the boat from Taswegia

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Photographers: Noah Thorley

If you’ve got a keen eye, you’ll recognise Dale Parker’s 1997 EL-series Falcon GT, because our resident sandgroper/ageless vampire Boris covered it off for our June 2020 edition. Since then, Dale’s relocated to Hobart and taken his genuine Navy Blue Falcon GT with him.

This is not only Dale and Bryan’s maiden Drag Challenge, but the first time in a decade Dale has fanged the Falcon in fury. “Last time I raced it, it was supercharged and ran an 11.0 at 131mph,” he explains. “It’s making just over 1340hp now, so we’re hoping for high eights if we’re lucky.”

The Falcon has seen only a few changes since Big BV’s 2020 article, the wheels being the most obvious. Being 4000lbs (just over 1800kg) in race trim with Dale sitting in it, the Falcon sat too low over the burnt bronze Koya SF01 eighteens and were sure to rub on the rough roads of the hinterlands. The original fitment EL Falcon GT seventeens were dusted off for transport duties, and a set of 15×8.5 Convo Pros with sticky Mickeys are strapped to the roof for tearing up the strip.

Outside of rolling stock, Dale has also applied a V8 Supercar-style deep-dish front splitter, designed to pump more air through the turbos and intercooler, but the main focus has been around tuning; ironing out the bugs, especially in the lead up to this week. The combination of a Windsor-based Dart Iron Eagle 8.2-deck block, Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads, Callis Magnum crank and Carrillo H-beam rods bring the Falcon’s cubic pubes up to 357ci; a bit more than the original, metric-measured 5.0, and thanks to the twin GTX3584RS Gen 2 turbos, there’s a shade under five times the power of the factory Ford donk. “Chris Palfreyman gave us a hand with the tune; he’s done a few of these and worked on Mark Whitla’s 6-second Capri,” Dale says as he hops over the cage mid-interview. “Scrutineers say we need some more padding on the roll bars, so we’ve gotta go!”

With twin turbos strapped to a wild Windsor, FG Falcon bonnet bulge under the factory EL vent, Reid-cased Powerglide and 35-spline nine-inch, Dale has pissed off more than a few of the Falcon GT purists. As he fires it up, he says, “I bought it in 2002 in good, original order. I’ve not had to respray it or anything, but being of only 272 built, I guess I’ve ‘wrecked a classic’ according to some of them,” Dale laughs before idling off, proving that even with a head of snow-white hair, he can still be a black sheep.

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