Reviews
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Packing more than 500kW, we drive the ultimate XR8.
What is it?
It’s long-time Ford tuner Herrod Motorsport’s take on the new FG X Falcon XR8.
What’s been done to it?
Despite the short time frame between them receiving the car and us driving it, Robbie Herrod and his band of merry men managed a complete overhaul.
The 5.0-litre supercharged Miami V8 benefits from Herrod’s Stage 3 Power Pack, which consists of a pulley upgrade to increase boost to 11.5psi, a modified fuel pump, competition fuel regulator, 1000cc injectors, intercooler, modified oil breather, spark-booster kit, cat-back exhaust and ECU tune. The net result: 510kW at 5800rpm and 760Nm at 4800rpm.
Allowing such wide rear rubber is a set of Herrod-modified rear suspension blades, while the stock springs and dampers are replaced by a custom Koni setup. Brakes are by Harrop, with mammoth 381mm rotors up front clamped by six-piston calipers matched to 356mm rear rotors and four-piston calipers.
Is it fast?
Absolutely. Looking at the numbers, you mightn’t think so, as 0-100km/h in 5.08sec and a 13.12sec quarter-mile isn’t significantly faster than the stocker. The clue lies in the trap speed, 185.17km/h being a good 10km/h faster than the regular XR8.
On the right surface, there’s no reason why an auto-equipped Herrod XR8 wouldn’t go the good part of a second faster. Put it this way, in a 60km/h roll-on drag with the Walkinshaw WP507, the two cars were absolutely neck and neck to beyond 200km/h.
How’s it drive?
Extremely well. Herrod has managed the rare trick of not just making the base vehicle faster, but improving it as an overall package. The suspension setup is softer than standard, making the Herrod car a much more comfortable cruiser without unduly hurting the XR8’s cornering ability.
Of course, given you more or less have to drive Falcons with ESP off due to there being no intermediate setting, it makes for quite a wild ride. Herrod’s XR8 must be treated with the utmost respect simply because there’s so much power on tap.
Faults? Despite the impressive hardware the brakes feel quite soft, which isn’t very reassuring when you’re approaching corners at Mach 2. There’s also still work to do on the tune, as when coming to a halt after hard acceleration the car would sometimes stall. The latter is purely down to Herrod not having sufficient dyno time with the car before we had to drive it, so no doubt it will be sorted by the time you read this.
How much?
With the engine tweaks totalling $10,630 and the brakes, suspension and rolling stock adding another $16,630, the Herrod modifications add $27,260 on top of the $52,490 Ford ask for an XR8. Not cheap, but then you’ve got a dead-set weapon of a Falcon for around $80K.
Four stars
Keep an eye out for MOTOR’s April issue, on sale now, where the Herrod XR8 bumps gloves with Walkinshaw’s W507 GTS in a 1000kW-plus showdown.
Specs Engine: 4951cc V8, DOHC, 32v, supercharger Power: 510kW @ 5800rpm Torque: 760Nm @ 4800rpm Gearbox: 6-speed manual or automatic 0-100km/h: 5.08sec (tested) 0-400m: 13.12sec @ 185.17km/h (tested) Price: $79,750 (based on manual XR8)
