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Most people would think the fastest street car in Australia is the latest hyper-machine from Koenigsegg or McLaren, but it is actually Frank Marchese’s full-weight 1970 XW Ford Fairmont!
This street-registered 48-year-old four-door sedan has just won the toughest competition for street cars in Australia – Street Machine’s Drag Challenge. This week-long events sees entrants drive their cars at five drag strips over five days, with 300-400km tours every day down nasty country roads dodging animals, pot-holes and mechanical calamity. You aren’t allowed to tow your car, you have to carry all tools and crew members in that car or an approved trailer, and it the car has to run fast to be in with a shot.
Over 250 cars came from all over Australia, including far-north Queensland and West Australia, to compete in the event and the top 10 cars were separated by a hair’s breadth. Having run a PB of 7.15@202mph (325kph) in the quarter-mile Frank’s XW Fairmont was one of the favourites, but he only won the event by less than a second from Harry Haig’s mental twin-turbo 540ci big-block HQ Kingswood after five crazy days of racing.
Check out Street Machine’s website for more info about the event, as well as daily recap videos showing all the action!
Drag Challenge 2018 registration day:
Drag Challenge 2018 Day 1:
Drag Challenge 2018 Day 2:
Drag Challenge 2018 Day 3:
Drag Challenge 2018 Day 4:
Drag Challenge 2018 Day 5:
What would you build for Drag Challenge? Tell us in the comments.
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