ONE of the big changes for this year’s Meguiar’s MotorEx was showing more cars in action and we saw that with the drifting demos, burnout car start-ups and the Mainline MPW dyno. The dyno was a constant buzz of activity; Quentin Feast’s seven-second Drag Challenge-winning Torana made north of 1400rwhp, the McDonald Brothers 1200rwhp Monaro split its intake manifold making big grunt and then there was a whole host of quick streeters in between.

Jarrod Peirce’s gold VL Calais caught our attention because while it may look like a stocker on initial inspection, look a little closer and you’ll spot that it’s had plenty of work done and presents beautifully. The engine bay has been smoothed and houses a RB30 single cammer with forged pistons and rods.

It’s boosted by a Garrett GT3582 turbo blowing air through a front mount ‘cooler and Rajab Racing intake. The whole deal is managed by a Haltech Elite 2000 ECU and she runs on 98 octane pump fuel because Jarrod wanted it to be a hop in and drive streeter.

Sticking with the street car theme, Jarrod has retained the three pedal setup but swapped out the factory five-speed for a R33 Skyline unit. “This is my second Skyline gearbox, the first one didn’t last very long but this one has only done 300km so I’m hoping it hangs in there a bit longer,” said Jarrod.

On the Mainline hub dyno the Calais laid down 484rwhp – not bad for conservative boost and 98 octane pump fuel. Jarrod is close to the limit of his fuel system so in order to run more boost or E85 fuel he’ll have to go to a bigger pump or potentially twin pumps.