CASTLE HILL EXHAUST & PERFORMANCE 427 LS RX3 RESETS AUSSIE DRAG RECORD!

Nathan Farrugia resets the Aussie LS record, running a 6.85 @ 202mph in his insane twin-turbo 427ci Mazda RX3

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Photographers: Grant Stephens


Nathan Farrugia and Terry Androutsos’ Mazda RX3 has reset the benchmark for LS performance in Australia, running a blistering 6.84 at 205mph at the Honeywell Garrett Sydney Jamboree on April 7. The Castle Hill Exhaust & Performance-prepared machine has been knocking on the record’s door for 2.5 years thanks to the persistent hard work of Dale Heiler, Dave Keys and the team at CHE, beating Gerry Sarafoglou’s previous PB of 6.85 at 202mph in Steve Petrovski’s old C&V Performance Holden ute.

 “The RX3 is basically a 1365kg (3009lb) Pro 275 car, with a 427-cube LSX, twin 88mm turbos, Haltech Elite 2500 and running on 275 MT pro radials,” says CHE’s Dale Heiler. “It has an all-steel body with the OEM floor.”

The previous best for Nathan and Terry’s RX3 was 7.19 at 194mph but the Jamboree weekend saw them smash out five 6-second passes and eight passes over 200mph! Since the wild Mazda appeared in issue 1 of Street Machine LSX Tuner the combo has been refined but not radically modified, as Dale explains. “It is basically the same as it was then, but we recently fitted a new Plazmaman intake manifold, plus new Turbosmart wastegates and their new Power Port blow-off valves, and a new torque convertor by Pro-Torque.”

 Having made over 2000hp at 40psi on the Mick’s Motorsport hub dyno the power is there to run brutally fast, but getting it to the ground has been the issue. Craig Burns of SCF Race Cars stepped in to help the little black coupe leave the hole arrow-straight.

“I just press the buttons, Craig made a heap of changes to the suspension and chassis package,” laughs Dale, adding there is still plenty more speed locked inside.

 “It is crossing the line at 9100rpm so there is more in the car, but every time we’d feed power in it just wheelstands or smokes the tyres. Craig said a diff gear change from 3.4s to a 3.25, which is the shortest we can get, will gain us a few mile-per-hour,” explains Dale.

 The final of the J275 class saw the rocket ship RX3 lose to Steve Bezzina’s epic 2200hp XW Falcon by just .003sec thanks to a dead crank trigger. “The bracket holding the crank trigger bounced due to tyre shake, knocking the crank trigger into the reluctor wheel and killing it,” says Dale. “Terry is now going to have a go in the car as he has waited a few years for Nathan get into the sixes.”

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