BA-BF Falcons: The Blue Oval Redemption
The BA and BF Falcons were pivotal in Ford Australia’s history. Their showroom appeal restored pride in the company’s embattled flagship after widespread consumer rejection of their AU Falcon predecessor. And they proved to be prolific winners on the race track, between them claiming four V8 Supercar championships and three Bathurst 1000s in six seasons.
The BA-BF’s racing successes came at a time when Ford and Holden had never been closer in performance in their V8-powered civil war. This was achieved by a bold engineering strategy introduced by the teams’ association TEGA called ‘Project Blueprint’ which from 2003 successfully aligned all key performance criteria for Falcon and Commodore.
This strategy, masterfully steered from concept to completion by TEGA’s Paul Taylor, created an unprecedented spirit of co-operation between the rival makes with a common goal of improving the show as a whole. It also brought an immediate cease-fire in the ugly political battles fought over performance parity which had raged since the category’s inception a decade earlier.
Like most successful race cars the BA Falcon (and its BF successor which effectively differed in name only) proved to be a winner ‘straight out of the box’ as they say. This was in stark contrast to the AU which, due to its never-ending struggle to win races, was the catalyst for Project Blueprint.
History shows that the AU Falcon was a major disappointment. In the four seasons it competed in the V8 Supercar Championship Series from 1999 to 2002, it was consistently outclassed by the VT Commodore and its cosmetically updated but otherwise identical VX successor.
The sobering facts are that the AU won only eight of the 52 championship rounds contested. That meant a mere 15 per cent of the spoils went to Ford, in what was supposed to be a ‘parity’ formula in which Falcons and Commodores had (theoretically at least) a 50 per cent chance of winning each race, round and championship. Ford clearly was not getting a good return on its investment.
In simple terms, the AU could often produce competitive pace over one lap, but could not maintain it over a race distance. It was traced to an aerodynamic imbalance between the curvaceous AU body and its V8 Supercar-approved aerodynamic body kit. Ford was adamant it would not make the same mistake again. And it was proved spectacularly correct.
Project Blueprint: Falcodores and Commocons
The primary focus of the new rules, which came into effect on January 1, 2003, was to align the two greatest differences between Falcon and Commodore which had defied all attempts by rule makers to achieve parity - engines and front suspensions.
In both cases it was the Commodore which had to undergo the greatest changes in its transition from VX to the latest VY model. Its new engine and front suspension had to match the existing Ford hardware, which was considered superior in design and performance for racing applications and therefore the best basis on which a common design or ‘blueprint’ could be modelled.
Since the category’s inception in 1993, the Commodore’s fuel-injected 5.0 litre V8 (which like the Ford V8 was producing more than 600 bhp by 2002) used a cast-iron GM racing block with 9.025-inch deck height matched with aluminium cylinder heads with siamese inlet/exhaust ports and an 18-degree valve angle.
Under the Blueprint directive a new GM racing block with the same deck height as Ford’s SVO unit was matched with a new GM racing head, with valve angles and equally-spaced ports considered to be the closest practical equivalent to the Falcon’s SVO ‘Yates’ head.
A common weight for the piston/con-rod/crankshaft assembly was also agreed on and the new ‘Chevrolet’ V8 was mounted in the same position as the Falcon’s (using shared datum points) to ensure uniform centre of gravity and polar moment of inertia. A minimum weight of 740kg over the front axle line was specified for the first time.
Commodore teams updating to the new VY also had to replace the familiar MacPherson strut front suspension with the Falcon’s upper and lower wishbone design. With common datum points between the two cars, this ensured the Commodore’s front suspension was identical to the Falcon’s along with uniform wheelbase, track width etc.
The existing front spoiler under-tray and air intakes shared by the AU and VX were carried over and paired with a new common rear wing profile, to ensure downforce and drag were the same on both cars when measured at the front and rear axle centre-lines. There was also uniform driver seat location, roll cage design criteria and other detailed refinements, but the Holinger six-speed competition gearbox and multi-link live rear axle were virtually unchanged.
The end result was a design blueprint for Falcon and Commodore V8 Supercars that would serve the category well for another decade, until replaced by Car of the Future rules in 2013 which for the first time allowed more than just Ford and Holden to compete.
However, back in 2002 the exclusive Ford vs Holden rivalry in V8 Supercar racing was intense and under inspirational Ford Australia boss Geoff Polites and racing chief Howard Marsden the embattled Blue Oval looked to the 2003 season with renewed optimism. A report published in AMC magazine at the time captured the sense of expectation:
“Just like its road-going cousin, the BA Falcon V8 Supercar is seen as a make or break car for Ford Australia. Its success or failure on the track will have serious consequences for the credibility of the company, its race teams and V8 Supercar racing as a whole. Should the BA struggle, many Ford race fans who have already endured four long, painful seasons of the AU getting clobbered by Holden’s VT/VX Commodores will likely turn their backs on the sport.
“You only have to see the devastating effect that Ferrari’s current stranglehold on Formula One has had on TV and track audience sizes to know such dominance by one brand carries a use-by date with the public. Ford’s marketing push is also being built around a performance image driven by race track success but, so far, Ford has burned up millions of dollars competing in a sport that makes Holden look ever so clever. For the sake of Ford, FPV and the future health of V8 Supercar racing, we hope it wins races.” Prophetic words indeed!
2003-04: BA Falcon, SBR and The Tassie Devil
Ross and Jim Stone always made it their business to monitor the performances of young Aussies and Kiwis competing overseas. And it was this off-shore surveillance of potential future driving talent for their Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) V8 Supercar team that would pay off handsomely, after they took a calculated gamble on a young and relatively unknown open-wheeler racer from Tasmania called Marcos Ambrose.
Ambrose had cut his racing teeth in local karting and Formula Ford before heading to Europe, in a cash-strapped attempt to succeed in British Formula Ford/Formula 3 as a stepping stone to F1. After three years the 24 year old had run out of money and returned home, but the Stones knew talent when they saw it and promptly signed Ambrose to drive an SBR AU Falcon in 2001, despite virtually all of his racing experience being in open-wheelers.
In his first V8 Supercar season, Ambrose was a revelation. He claimed pole position at his first race and took his first win after only four rounds, finishing a solid eighth in the championship. In 2002, SBR and Ambrose shifted up a gear, squeezing more speed out of the unloved AU than any other team to claim more victories and finish a fighting third behind the Commodores.
From 1998 to 2002, the factory-backed Holden Racing Team had been the class of the field, winning five consecutive championships and two Bathurst 1000s. It must be said such an achievement was made easier by the AU Falcon’s inherent problems, but Ambrose was adamant that if enough pressure was applied he could crack the seemingly impenetrable HRT. He just needed the right tool for the job - and in the new BA he found it.
Although reigning champion Mark Skaife in his new HRT (Blueprint-spec) VY Commodore won the opening round of the 2003 championship in Adelaide, it flattered to deceive. Ambrose, SBR and the new BA Falcon soon took command.
A series of power-packed performances by the Tasmanian cracked The General’s defences wide open, prompting joyous waving of blue and white flags in spectator areas across the country. Ford’s new saviour, who relished his ‘Tassie Devil’ tag, won six of the 13 rounds which included a dazzling run of four consecutive victories. The Skaife/HRT dominance of the previous three seasons had finally been broken.
I clearly remember doing pit-lane commentary at the final round of the 2003 championship at Eastern Creek where Ambrose sealed his first title – and Ford’s first since 1997. Geoff Polites was in the SBR garage and amidst all the hand-shaking and back-slapping I asked him how it felt to finally realise his dream of returning Ford to the winner’s circle – a strategy he had started plotting five years earlier when he was appointed CEO. He just shrugged with a smile and said: “I’d like to see them win it again next year, just to prove this was no fluke!”
Ambrose, SBR and the BA Falcon duly obliged in 2004, only this time it was an even more emphatic result with team-mate Russell Ingall finishing runner-up to Ambrose in another famous Ford 1-2. Ambrose took five wins from 13 rounds with only one finish outside the top ten, showcasing the relentless pressure he was able to apply to his Holden foes. Two championships in two years – job done, Mr Polites.
2005: BA Falcon, SBR and The Enforcer
The Ambrose/Ingall/SBR/BA Falcon juggernaut rolled on into 2005, with high expectations of a three-peat by Ford fans. They delivered the triple-crown alright, but this time it was Russell Ingall’s dogged consistency rather than wins that proved decisive.
Ingall had started his V8 Supercar career as a Commodore driver with Larry Perkins in 1995 when they shared a memorable last-to-first victory at Bathurst. They did it again two years later but after seven seasons together, during which time Ingall finished championship runner-up three times, he defected to Ford and SBR with a new BA Falcon in 2003. Interesting that Ingall also ended up at SBR, given a similar background to Ambrose in earlier showcasing his skills in British Formula Ford.
After being outpaced by Ambrose that year, when he finished seventh overall, Ingall added a fourth runner-up title to his CV in 2004. Finally it all came together for him in 2005, despite Ambrose scoring two round wins to Ingall’s one and remaining in title contention until the final round.
2005 was the first time in championship history that six drivers (three Ford, three Holden) went into the last round with a chance of winning the title. Decided over three races at Phillip Island, Ingall did just enough to secure his first V8 Supercar crown ahead of Craig Lowndes (Triple Eight Engineering) and Ambrose.
It was also Ford’s third championship win in succession, with BA Falcons for the first time finishing 1-2-3 in a crushing display of superiority.
It was also the end of a glorious era for Ford and SBR with Ambrose announcing that after five seasons in V8 Supercars he was moving to the US, having secured a deal with Ford backing to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2006. His absence would be sorely missed by SBR, which never won another V8 Supercar title.
2008: BF Falcon, 888 and Jay-Dub
While Marcos Ambrose and SBR were at the height of their powers in 2004, further down the grid another seed was planted in Ford’s fertile garden which would soon grow into an even more formidable opponent for Holden teams.
The UK-based Triple Eight Engineering, which had been a leading contender in the BTCC, wanted to spread its wings into V8 Supercar racing and in 2004 purchased John Briggs’ two-car BA Falcon team. Under dynamic team principal Roland Dane things moved quickly, with the signing of Craig Lowndes to spearhead its 2005 attack in which he was immediately in strong title contention.
For 2006 Triple Eight signed Jamie Whincup as its second driver, which raised a few eyebrows. Whincup was an unknown quantity. He graduated as a 20 year old from Formula Ford to V8 Supercars with Garry Rogers’ Holden team in 2003, but was dumped at the end of a lack lustre rookie season.
Another Holden team, Tasman Motorsport, threw Whincup a life-line the following year after he won a driving audition against other hopefuls to be Jason Richards’ team-mate in 2005. A solid season, highlighted by a third at the Sandown 500 and second at Bathurst with Richards, was enough evidence of his potential for Dane to sign Whincup as Lowndes’ team-mate in a pair of BA Falcons in 2006. It was a decision that would pay enormous dividends for Triple Eight.
Whincup tasted immediate success at the Adelaide 500 season opener and impressed with his raw speed and improving race-craft, finishing the year tenth overall. His team-mate Lowndes took the championship battle to the final round and a nail-biting loss to Commodore driver Rick Kelly, albeit in controversial circumstances that caused many to question the Holden man's sportsmanship.
The highlight of Whincup’s first season with 888 was co-driving with Lowndes in their BA Falcon to win the Bathurst 1000, only weeks after Lowndes’ childhood hero and mentor Peter Brock was killed in a tarmac rally in WA. It was most fitting that a clearly emotional Lowndes became the first recipient of a special annual award named in honour of the nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner – the Peter Brock Trophy.
In 2007 Holden introduced its new VE Commodore while Ford teams updated to the latest BF Falcon. Whincup was a genuine title contender, but Triple Eight again had to suffer the agony of taking the championship battle to the final round only to narrowly lose it again to Holden. This time it was Whincup’s turn, finishing just two points behind Garth Tander’s HSV Dealer Team Commodore in the final tally. However, Lowndes and Whincup did win their second Bathurst 1000.
In 2008 Whincup came of age, delivering Triple Eight’s first championship after its five seasons in V8 Supercars. Whincup’s driving of his BF Falcon was superb, making few mistakes with blinding pace regardless of the track or race distance. Whincup and Lowndes sealed Triple Eight’s superiority with a third consecutive Bathurst victory.
With the latest FG Falcon debuting in 2009, the BA-BF Falcon bowed out after six seasons of some of the toughest touring car racing on the planet. And it left centre stage where it had started, as a V8 Supercar champion.
