THE Tuff Mounts Holden Nationals has grown hand over fist since its birth four years ago, and now the Victorian event is drawing attention from far and wide, with competitors travelling thousands of kilometres from as far away as Queensland to be part of the action.

Mitch Tanti is one of those long haulers, travelling down from Canberra to race his VY Maloo. The car has been through around six different engine combos before Mitch finally pulled the trigger and built himself a serious donk. It’s a 5.3-litre iron-block LS, stroked out to 5.7 litres and force-fed by a BorgWarner S480 turbo. Last time it was on the dyno it cranked out 570rwkW (764hp) on 19psi with wheelspin, but Mitch was running up to 23psi as he hit the track at Heathcote Park Raceway for the Holden Nationals.

The rest of the driveline is made up of a two-speed Powerglide ’box and a modified version of the factory IRS. With goals of running low nines to high eights, Mitch’s best came in at a 9.38@153mph – a good showing for a relatively untested package.

Mitch plans on fitting a rollcage in the future and taking on our gruelling Drag Challenge in 2020. We’d definitely be keen to see this thing in action for a weeks’ worth of hard-yakka racing.

MITCH TANTI
HSV Y-SERIES MALOO

Engine: 5.7L cast-iron LS
Turbo: BorgWarner S480
Transmission: Two-speed Powerglide
Suspension: Modified factory IRS
Current PB: 9.38@153mph