There's no doubting that it's taken Campbellfield's blue oval brigade a bloody long time to reach a decent performance level, and fortunately the past few years have shown that they are finally starting to get it right. Facing facts, the proverbial first hit the fan a few years back when Ford's hierarchy decided to drop the V8 engine, instantly resulting in relegation from performance contender to voyeur.
Anyone wanting a V8-powered 'large car' had but one choice; the Holden Commodore. Several years on, history shows that Ford did pull their head out of the sand with a re-launch of the 5.0-litre V8 engine, which was great for a while until HSV upped the ante firstly with the 5.7 litre stroker and then with the awesome LS1 or Gen III Chevy. In stock trim the Chev is good for 225kW, while HSV's magic sees the VX engine jump to a not insignificant 255kW - and that's leaving aside the massive 300kW GTS! Ford did their best to retaliate with Tickford input, with the so-called barn-storming 220kW TS50 the leader of the pack. Only thing is, its performance pales when compared to the HSV equivalent....
And despite the supercharged V10 Mustang show car and Ford's new coupe, the real Ford world is still filled with more mundane cars. The Tickford XR range is a case in point (man, I can hear the Tickford fanatics freaking out already). Mind you, in standard guise, the XR is the equivalent to the Holden SS, both of which are extremely good cars. Thing is, they really do little to excite. Which I guess is why Gary Miotello has upped the ante big time with his immaculate daily-driven AU11 XR8.
Having been a devout Ford man and Victorian XR Falcon club member for several years, when he decided to update his old EB (TE50 transmission, Vortech blower, blueprinted 302 and nine inch diff) he was faced with the difficult decision of whether to buy another Ford, or go with HSV. "Even though I loved the EB and was an active member of the XR club, I was sick of the unreliability of the car and was looking to update to a vehicle with good power and IRS suspension," he enthused. In the weeks leading up to his lashing out on a new vehicle, Gary drove the AU1 XR8 and HSV's Grange and was swaying toward the Holden product when the revised AU11 hit the showrooms. Walla! Sight unseen, an order was placed and the car delivered directly from the Ford showroom to Herrod Automotive. The transformation was swift and complete, with modifications to the undercarriage, engine and interior. Mind you, not everything was done at the outset, with Gary keen to run the engine in before introducing the supercharger.
Herrod's have developed kits for most areas of the Ford product, and the interior is a perfect example of quality design and execution. Gary's package is top of the mill and includes a few little extras which ensures his XR is unique. The full grey leather package with Herrod logos looks brilliant, feels and smells great. It's worth noting that over and above the simple re-stitch, Herrod's also modify the rear bench padding for a bucket style appearance and feel. Plus there're rear headrests. Additional enhancements include the lathering of harlequin blue/red two-pack paint over the dash binnacle, Momo gear knob, window tinting, and a potent sound system. The latter's not over the top, mind, just a strong combo belting out quality sounds. The chosen head units are Alpine A1 Net items incorporating the CDA 7852R tuner/CD and CDA 5755 EQ/CD. An Alpine V12 amplifier combines with a Focal amp to deliver a whopping 500 watts RMS to front-mounted 5x4-inch Focal splits and 6x9-inch parcel shelf speakers mounted on a custom panel and with concealed custom wiring.
The exterior is a little less conspicuous in that the only changes include a lowered stance, 18 x 8 and 9.5 Herrod rims with 235/40 and 265/35 Falken tyres, an AU XR Series 1 bi-plane rear wing and factory headlight covers. In XR form the AU body shape has always looked much better than its humbler brothers; in AUII guise with just these visual tweaks it looks bloody superb.
But what you don't immdiately see are the comprehensive Herrod suspension and brake packages. The brakes are 330mm slotted front rotors with custom PBR twin spot calipers and Goodrich braided lines, while at the rear there're replacement slotted rotors. In Rob Herrod's words, the brake pads his company now uses are "simply sensational". Of carbon fibre construction, they apparently work from zero to extreme temperatures, all the while claiming to offer great feel.Ensuring the AU sticks to the road with aplomb is a suspension kit developed by Herrod in conjunction with Koni. Obviously the shocks are Koni (adjustables), while there are also custom King springs, a front camber/caster kit and altered front-end geometry (7-8 degrees positive caster, ¾ degree negative camber and ½ mm toe-in).
Once the engine was 'worn' in, Herrod's topped it with a small Powerdyne supercharger. Monstrous power was never the target, rather quality low boost (0.5 bar) giving grunt delivered with a minimum of fuss.
But hey, don't think it doesn't go!
With around 280 flywheel kilowatts (380 horsepower) on tap, the Falcon kicks plenty of butt. Thing is, the power is achieved with such ease it's not funny. Engine changes include a Herrod Motorsport camshaft, Crow chrome moly push rods, Ford Motorsport roller rockers and the GT 40P heads are decked out with Crow springs and retainers. Minor exhaust port 'cleansing' is also undertaken. Herrod's also added a complete twin stainless steel mandrel bent 2.5-inch exhaust system and their own design internally and externally HPC coated headers. Then there's an SVO 65mm throttle body and GT40 upper manifold. Larger injectors aid the package, which is bolted in place with Herrod hardware.
And the difference between Gary's XR8 and a stock version is, well, chalk and cheese. The engine develops around 45% more power, the suspension actually works, the brakes rarely fade, and the interior is brilliant.
Needless to say, Gary is rapt in the car even though he uses it every day. He's not afraid to give it a kick in the guts either as can be seen by his very respectable lap times at Calder and his winning speed at the recent XR and GT Falcon club Mangalore 900 metre sprint. The clubs hired a speed camera to establish the speeds of the cars as they crossed the 900-metre mark from a standing start. And guess what? Gary's achieved the highest speed of an XR in attendance (over 30).
A wolf in sheep's clothing? Yep!
Contacts:
Herrod Automotive
03 9464 5100
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