First published in Street Machine’s Australia’s Toughest Fords #2, 2004

Summernats is the greatest event on earth, according to Nathan Owens-Place. He’s stoked – especially since he was crowned Burnout Champion of the World at Summernats 17. It’s his dream come true, an accolade he’s been working towards for years. He’s loved burnouts since he got his licence, and pieced together this tough XE Falcon for no other reason than to master the craft.

To win this year’s title, he’d booted the Mint Silver Falcon off the line and smoked up a storm, arcing through a tirade of awesome helis. All the while, its tunnel-rammed 351 blasted out a hard-core roar as it sang strong and sweet at its 7600rpm limit. When the tyres popped, the crowd went off and the judges might as well have packed their bags and quit for the rest of the day.

Affectionately known as Red to one and all, Nathan has carved himself quite a reputation in his home state of Queensland. By his reckoning, he’s a veteran of 40 to 50 burnout competitions, embracing the whole scene as his lifestyle, even taking a job at Trapnell Race Engines to learn more about building a better car.

“I love working on cars,” he admits. “I just want to learn. I’ve learned a lot from helping all my mates in the car club build their cars and watching Geoff Trapnell plying his expert engine building skills.”

In fact, it was a mate of Geoff’s who sold Nathan the XE for $600. The car was a pig, says Nathan, but it had a V8, a four-speed manual and was the right price.

“I’ve got an XA GT, which I used to run in all the burnout comps,” he says. “It was deteriorating from doing so many burnout comps – like, the back guards were taking a bit of a beating – so I thought, nup, and it’s been off the road for a couple of years now. I looked around for something cheap just to do burnouts in.”

The XE’s recipe is simple. It’s all based around a reliable, 430-odd horsepower 351 Cleveland, but the details need lots of attention. And money.

Take the diff. After breaking six Borg Warners, Nathan went for a nine-inch, and even then he managed to rip the caps out of the carrier by launching at 5000rpm. Now he’s got Strange internals, making it a $4000 diff just to be able to handle the stress.

“I used to carry a spare axle because they break so often. I’m using third or fourth gear to take off, and I want to know it’s going to hang on every time I let go of the clutch.”

Nathan has also broken four Borg Warner gearboxes and managed to snap the output shaft off a top loader. So much for being bulletproof, eh? The answer is just to keep building things stronger. He applied the lesson to the rear quarters, too, which are made from 2.5mm steel plate! Scores of exploding tyres had destroyed the original items.

“I used to get in there with a crowbar and bash them back out before each show,” says Nathan. The new heavy-duty ones haven’t buckled at all.

Protection’s one thing, but the show is another. Tyres can make or break a burnout’s impact, and Nathan’s been impressing both judges and crowds on Highway-brand remoulds. These are like retreads, only it’s the whole outer section of the tyre that’s rebuilt.

“The ones for Summernats were 225/50x16s. They were brand new and lasted just over two minutes. Much longer than that and the car starts to get a little hot, but in that timeframe it’s not hot at all. And they make heaps of smoke!”

The incredible exhaust note comes courtesy of Gonzo mufflers, which Nathan reckons have a sound all of their own, as if the car’s revving even higher than it really does. All these things are important in a modern burnout comp.

“Burnouts have changed a bit over the last couple of years,” he says. “The judging seems to be different at some shows. Some of them, if you throw the car around heaps but don’t make as much smoke, they judge better, whereas I prefer the ‘heaps slower with a lot of smoke’ style. I think it’s the preference of the promoter and the judges on the day, really. You’ve gotta watch what they score well and try to perform to suit that.

“I’ve changed a lot in the past 18 months. I used to just creep really slow down the straight but now I go a fair bit quicker. I don’t use the brakes as much in the donuts, and just let it throw itself around until I can’t see any more and then use the brake to get my bearings.”

Nathan and his tyre fryer are at the top of the burnout tree, but there’s more to come from both of them as Nathan continues to learn how to get more from the car and himself. Chances are you’ll see a lot more of them in the future – once the smoke clears, that is.

SMOKE SECRETS

There’s an art to building a burnout engine. Reliability is crucial. The donk has to rev high for several minutes without rest or a cooling breeze. Geoff Trapnell has been Nathan’s boss for two years and his mate for 12, and has been instrumental in developing the XE’s engine into a dependable tool.

“The engine’s been a big experiment for the last eight years,” says Nathan. “We keep changing it, building it different every time to see if it lasts longer. Took us about a year on different combinations to get it not to come apart. Fords are hard to keep together. They don’t break too many conrods but just kill the bearings.”

Nathan and Geoff reckon they’ve nailed it now, and ironically it was an engine failure that seemed to prove it.

“The one that won at Summernats was actually an experimental motor full of cheap parts,” says Geoff. “Fourth gear up the motorway, 6500rpm and the block gave way – split a bore. Hydraulic’d it and destroyed it. Amazingly, all the bearings were still like new.”

Cool. So they’ve learned the secrets to building great burnout donks. What’s the go? “Oiling system and clearances,” says Geoff. “And no, I’m not telling you exactly what we did.”

Nathan Owens-Place
1983 XE Falcon

THANKS
Geoff and all the guys at Trapnell Race Engines for the long nights; Tammy.