ONLY a rare few racers elect to push Holden’s ancient 186 six-cylinder engine to the very edge, which makes father and son Jeff and Matt Ramsay’s achievements with their ‘Brumby’ FJ Holden ute even more impressive.

The Brumby FJ has been slaying on the drag strip with Holden’s humble 186 motor since the 70s, when it was owned by Ray Walker. Back then it ran 13-second quarter-mile times, which was and still is pretty quick by aspirated Holden six standards.

After sitting in hibernation for a number of years, the ute was rebuilt by Jeff and Matt, and now it runs eight-second quarters powered by a wild blown Holden 186 combo built by the Ramsays themselves. It’s an insane 650hp, Duggan-headed, blown and injected monster that still manages to keep the fundamental Holden six-cylinder block that we all know and love.

After the nostalgia-style rebuild was complete, the boys and their blown FJ returned an 8.90 timeslip in March 2017.

While Jeff initially handled the driving duties, these days Matt does the lion’s share – except for the annual Six Banger Nats at Warwick Dragway.

Matt recorded the ute’s current PB of 8.47-seconds at 159mph at Sydney Dragway last year. “We had a good converter and good air,” says Matt. “Then we blew the converter up at the next meeting and haven’t been able to get it working right since.”

As seen in the video, the ute recently ran an 8.77-second pass at 148mph. “We’re still fiddling with converters and trying to get the revs up quicker. Engine-wise, it is working well. We haven’t gone aggressive with the tune-up yet, we’re still running fat. Dad does all the engine work and the tune. I’m just the pedal-pusher [laughs].”