Originally Posted by
Haga
Hi
I am an owner of a Falcon XAGT sedan, over 20 years. Over my time of ownership I have seen photos of XAGTs racing here in NZ.
When I read the article in Aust Muscle Car magazine a few years ago I realized that they played a larger role in NZ motorsport than I thought. Some of the photos in the article were taken by Lindsay Ross and I purchased some prints off him.
The other day I “stumbled” upon this forum and read the thread on the Crichton Monaro and came across the first colour photos I had seen…awesome!!
Now this has got me interested in the history of XAGTs racing here and I have a million questions…hopefully the “historians” on here can answer some of them? Right Oh…here we go:
Does anyone have more colour photos of these cars?
What colour was the Wayne Murdoch GT?IIRC a dark gray/black colour, might even have had a bit of purple hue
Why the change from GTHO P3s to XA? The HO would have been a better/faster race car….was it to do with marketing/price?GTX series I think a minimum production number was in force which ruled out GTHO /E49 etc
Why did they not race the XBGT? The early XBs ran same engine combo as XA but with the advantage of discbrake rear end. I have seen a photo of Jim Richards towing his XA on a trailer behind a XBGT!
Why race the sedan versus the coupe? I gather it was due to the easier availability buy a sedan “off the shelf”compared to the coupe? I noted in the AMC article there was a pic of a lime glaze coupe racing. The numbers thing again IIRC, Lime Glaze car might have been Barry Lloyd from south canterbury.
What modification were allowed? I see in some pics XA running the XY 5 slots and later shots with mag wheels. Were motor upgrades permitted?Not much allowed in the motor other than balance & working with factory specs, hyd cam etc, they still had to run the Autolite 4300 carb which gave them some grief with cornering forces /float levels/power valve flooding etc
Safety: I gather a harness was installed….how did they fit that? I dont think full harness were in vogue then
I know the main “steerers” of XAs were Richards, Francevic and Murdoch. Was there others? I see the Fowler cars XA in Crichton Monaro thread..who was that?Tulloch, Rutherford ( Ron ), a few others might remember more.
What happened to the cars at the end of there racing career? Do any survive? I have seen the Richards and Francevic P3s so if they survived maybe some of these have too.Pretty sure Inky's did, others probably..
Sorry about all number of questions….I have more thou!!
Cheers
Wayne