Harrop-blown HQ heading for Optima Ultimate Street Car

This blown HQ will be one to watch at Optima Ultimate Street Car 2025, 15 February at Calder Park

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Brendan Irvine has been a consistently strong performer in his blown HQ Holden at the past two Optima Ultimate Street Car events, taking out the Vintage Class in 2022 and finishing runner-up last year to John Szwede’s epic LX Torana hatch.

Brendan reckons his 2025 preparations are a little behind schedule, with the parts for a planned diff upgrade failing to materialise and some ignition issues plaguing the blown LS mill. Nevertheless, UBSLOW will be one to watch carefully when OUSC hits Calder Park on Saturday 15 February.

The bright red Quey has been through a couple of iterations, but its current one is by far the best. “I bought it in 2010 – it was a nice, presentable car with a 308, TH400 and 9in, and I used it for drag racing and skid comps,” he said. 

While the driveline was pretty healthy, the interior and body were in need of some tidying up, so the HQ was blown apart and Brendan slathered it in straight red tinter in his shed, just in time to be his wedding car!

A few years later, with a view to making the car more streetable, Brendan replaced the grumpy 308 and swapped in a VZ-spec LS1 with a Harrop blower, good for 700hp. The grunt heads rearwards through a suitably worked DTM 4L60E trans.

“I wanted it to be a car that I could throw the family in and go for a long drive, but would also stop and steer well,” Brendan said.

To handle the substantial increase in power, the rest of the HQ’s underpinnings were beefed up as well. Brendan braced the body and added Castlemaine Rod Shop upper and lower control arms to the front end, while under the bum, the diff is a shortened XY 9in with 3.5:1 gears. The motion of the ocean is controlled by QA1 shocks at all four corners, with BA Falcon discs and calipers hauling the car up from the crazy speeds Brendan is happy to take it to.

The OUSC competition will be hot this year, so be trackside this 15 February to see how it plays out.

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