One of the record-breaking cars of the early days of Sport Compact in Australia has received a new lease on life.
Aaron Gregory recently drove what was affectionately nicknamed the ‘Green Egg’ at the Lights Out event at Willowbank Raceway, so we got in touch with Aaron to find out just where this flying Ford Focus has been.
“The car is owned by Omar and Steven Sedmak,” Gregory explained. “They had it at another shop for three years and nothing much happened.
“Omar contacted me after a good friend of mine, Allen Puglia from Perth, recommended me to help drive and set the car up originally. After Omar got to see some of my work and what I did here at ASG Motorsports he asked if I could finish the updates to the car for them as well.
“One thing led to another and the car was dropped off end of December just gone and I updated the car with the latest Haltech Elite2500 and IQ3 Racepak. I installed a triple plate 7″ East West clutch and Liberty five speed transmission.
“We dyno tuned the car to 1000rwhp on VP Racing Fuel and tested with some promising results.”
The car was a little controversial in its early days, with the Ford SVO V6 not really regarded as a Sport Compact engine. But it still developed a cult following in its limited outings at the track.
“At this stage we plan to test again before the Jamboree and if everything goes well with the destroked Ford SVO V6 oddfire engine then Omar will enter it in the Jamboree and we will see how it runs,” Gregory said. “It’s really more about getting it out again with its history of the first six second sport compact car in Australia at 199mph rather than trying to be the fastest at Jamboree. “
Gregory ran through the list of what has been done to the car to get it back up to spec after a decade away from the strip.
“Currently the car is set with 28-30psi boost, still running on the old Turbonetics turbos based on a TO4 frame. I upgraded the old Indy blue injectors to some Deka 2400cc injectors. I also had to repair some damages from age and use to the intercooler system and the radiator. I removed all the old silicone hoses and t-bolt clamps and replaced them with Oring turbo cooler clamps from VPW.
We replaced the worn out throttle body with a new 90mm Hypertune throttle body. I had to replace the old fuel pump with a new Magnafuel Pump and regulator. We replaced the front and side windows with new Lexan. Naturally we had to update to new chutes and new harnesses. The wheels have been powder coated and new tyres installed. Then Omar sent the car to get the green wrap done and I fabricated a new set of Pro Series moly wheelie bars for the car before we scaled and set the chassis up.”
– Top image by dragphotos.com.au, bottom image by Luke Nieuwhof.
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