Eric Bana's XB

[xbgs351]

I'm just back from following Targa Tasmania for a week and I got to look over Bana's car very closely and I also got to see it in action.

In summary the car looked a lot faster on the paddock then on the road. It had a very nice roll cage, the dry sump oil and fuel plumbing in the boot looked like touring car stuff. The motor was a tall block windsor with Dart heads and a Edelbrock Victor manifold. Apparently it was stroked. Electric water pump. Oil cooler, but not a stacked plate design. 3" twin exhaust. Sounded nice at idle. Suspension looked pretty standard. Koni shocks and a watts linkage. It ran a RRS rack and pinion, with the pump ran off the back of the drysump pump. Wheels looked to be 17 x 9" and 17 x 11", which aren't allowed in the new 2007 rules, but may have been allowed with the transition rules. The brakes were massive. Gearbox looked to be a Tremec. All of the sound deadening material had been removed.

On the road, the Bana coupe looked disapointing and was slower than most of the other X-series Falcons. I'm not sure how much of it was the driver and how much the car. The car looked too stiff in the rear end. The **** end of the car would sink down into the bumps, whereas better tuned cars just rode over them. The car didn't seem all that powerful either. Other X-series Falcons seemed to accelerate just as hard or harder and the Toranas were in another class again. Bana's driving appeared to be very hesitant and it left a lot to be desired. I wasn't at all surpirsed when I heard that he had crashed. At Georgetown he was the only driver that I saw get off the power and then back on to it again when approaching a corner. At other stages he would often drop back a gear when there was absolutely no need. Hopefully his driving will improve with some more seat time.

Each night I was surprised to see that the Bana coupe was always being maintained, since all of the other X-series Falcons were parked with nothing needed to be done to them. I believe that the cam on Bana's coupe was being chopped out, hence they had to adjust the tappets every night. This would explain why the car didn't seem particulary powerful.