JDM, exotics, muscle and more: the wild creations taking on Optima Ultimate Street Car

A quick look at some of the hot metal descending on Calder Park on 15 February for Optima Ultimate Street Car 2025

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Photographers: Shaun Tanner, Noah Thorley

There’s plenty of familiar faces returning this year for Optima Ultimate Street Car, which lights up Calder Park Raceway on 15 February. Competitors will take on autocross, hot laps, drag racing and more!

For this year, OUSC organisers have also added two drifting demo sessions for select competitors during the day, as well as roll racing, which will kick off at 7pm, straight after the main competition finishes.

Throwing his hat back in the OUSC ring for a third time is our new SMOTY winner, Heath van der Waerden and his Torana hatchback. Heath has just had the whole thing apart to redo the oiling system for this third crack at this event, and it’s always a pleasure to see his Torana rip.

Maxx Performance’s Zane Heath has entered his 400awkW Subaru Impreza WRX STI hatch, fresh from running 10s at Drag Challenge late last year. Running an EJ207, big Pulsar G30 turbo and the standard STI six-speed manual driveline, it should be a weapon.

More Subaru action on track will include John Holland’s WRX engine-powered classic Mini, and Sam Brown’s STI six-speed-swapped Subaru Outback, which will be back for vengeance with a fresh 2.5-litre boxer combo, after its previous 2.0-litre B4 engine was nuked at last year’s event.

The sideways experts who’ll be pulling double duty in the drift demos and proper competition include James Mackie’s XY Falcon, Drift Cadet’s Peter Pham in his Toyota 86, and Mercurial Mouse in her 350Z, plus more!

Other familiar faces include Nathan Camilleri and Michael Ludviksen from the Hackshop Garage YouTube channel. Michael’s back in his 253 HQ sedan, and Nathan will be in his turbo SOHC XE Falcon that recently ran 10s on debut at Drag Challenge.

From the Street Machine stable, we’ve got Iain ‘Marv’ Kelly and his supercharged LS 1964 Pontiac king-size bed, Tas McMillan in his FPV F6 back for another crack, and Carnage chieftain Scotty Taylor in the Turbo Taxi FG Falcon. Oh, and if I can get my shit together, I’ll have my S13 Silvia there as well to bring up the rear.

The variety at OUSC isn’t restricted to muscle and Japanese tuner cars, as we found out last year when the Underground Performance 2014 Audi TT of Alex Barnett romped to overall victory with Reece McIntosh behind the wheel. That car is back again this year, so it’ll be one to watch.

Drag Challenge regular Riccardo Pontonio has entered a Mercedes wagon, but not his twin-turbo, LS-powered 230TE! Instead, he’ll be piloting his daily-driver C63 AMG.

John Szwede, who took out the Vintage Class last year in his pro touring LX Torana hatch (below), has this time entered a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera!

That’s just a taste of what’s descending on Calder Park Raceway on Saturday 15 February. If you’re on the fence about entering, we highly suggest throwing your hat in the ring. All you need is a helmet, long sleeves, pants and the want to have fun! It’s a great day out to put your car to the test in a bunch of ways, and it’s perfect both for novices wanting a crack and pros who’re out to prove their worth.

You can grab a racer entry or general admission ticket by heading to ultimatestreetcar.au. For a Street Machine VIP Park-Up application, please submit your car here.

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