George Hatzi’s Barra turbo XF Ghia gunning for eights at Drag Challenge

You’ll struggle to find a happier face than George Hatzi’s in the Drag Challenge pits on any given day. He’s a top bloke who has contested our gruelling marathon a number of times in his super-slick XF Fairmont Ghia.

First published in Street Machine’s Yearbook 2022

The XF’s silver hue is original, and George says the car was in quite good condition when he came across it. Proper Falcon nerds will also spot the ultra-rare SVO front grille

In those earlier attempts, the XF was actually rocking a force-fed SOHC Intech six, a combo that’d had a long history with this car. “When I got it around seven years ago, it was actually a turbo single-cam on LPG,” George says. “I ran a best of 11.70 with the gas, and then we switched to E85 and it ran a PB of 10.20.”

As cool as the SOHC deal was, George knew it’d only get him so far. “It had its limitations, so we’d been planning a Barra swap for a couple of years, and then COVID hit, so we took that opportunity to finally do the swap,” he says.

The new Barra grunt has no problems getting the XF’s wheels up, and George is fractionally close to cracking the 8sec barrier

The FG-spec Barra was assembled by Glenn Wells, using a pretty basic recipe for some killer stonk. The block, crank, head, camshafts and lifters are all standard, the bottom end only sporting PPM I-beam rods, CP Bullet pistons, and billet gears in the original oil pump. The top end is standard apart from the Crow valve springs and head studs.

Hanging off the intake side is a Plazmaman manifold, with Siemens 2300cc injectors and an 85mm cable-driven throttlebody, while the hot side boasts a 6boost exhaust manifold and a Garrett GTX42 hairdryer. With a Haltech 2500 Elite for brains and E85 for good drinkin’, the combo made 831rwhp (620rwkW) on 30psi, tuned by George Chalikouras.

George says the process of fitting a Barra into the XF was pretty easy, and with all the black going on, it makes for a stealthy-looking 830rwhp

“The conversion was easy because I already had everything we needed to do it,” says George. “I wired it in and did all that stuff, and with the Haltech it’s super easy to set up – plus the power is impossible to argue with!”

Supporting gear to help get the Barra’s power to the ground include the Powerglide transmission, which is home to an SDE converter stalling at around 3600rpm. As expected, the rear end is a nine-inch, and George recently managed to squeeze a 275 tyre under the factory tubs on the widened 15×9 XF Ghia rims he uses at the track.

“That’ll be a big change for Drag Challenge; we managed to make just enough room so we’ll be on the 275 rather than the 255 I used to run,” he says.

Because of the seemingly endless Victorian lockdowns during COVID-19’s peak, George didn’t debut the new package until December 2021 at the Ford-Powered Nationals, but it was well worth the wait. “The difference was immediate. We PB’d the car by over a full second at its first event!” he says. That PB was a 9.01@153mph, and rest assured, George is doing everything he can to bag an eight. “You won’t believe it, but since then we’ve run a 9.001, so a big goal for Drag Challenge will be getting that eight for sure!” he says.

When the XF isn’t tearing up the track, it actually doubles as a really nice street car. “Off boost, it’s a really cruisy thing. I even let the wife drive it,” George laughs. “It’s obviously a pretty hairy thing if you get into it, but it’s super easy to drive normally, and being a Fairmont means it’s still really nice inside, so I love driving it on the road.”

George took on the 2022 edition of Ford-Powered Nationals at Heathcote Park Raceway last month and you’ll be able to see him and his XF in action at the rescheduled Drag Challenge 2022, 31 January to 4 February next year.

GEORGE HATZI
1986 FORD XF FAIRMONT GHIA

Class: Speed Pro Six-Cylinder

Keyword: George Hatzi’s Barra turbo XF Ghia gunning for eights at Drag Challenge