It was way more interesting. A shame V8 Supercars took over.

In 1980 the car had to run drum brakes on the rear because that was how those Camaros left the factory.

Dick Johnson would long claim that his Ford V8 only put out around 450 bhp while the 350 Chev in Bartlett's Camaro put out a known 500+. What a lot didn't know back then (but the HDT suspected and asked CAMS to "investigate") was that when Murray Carter had homologated the XD Falcon model, he did so and managed to slip by that the weight of the car was around 200 kg less than it should have been. You see, cunning old Murray had given the 6 cyl cars weight and not the V8's and CAMS had stamped its approval without anyone but Murray and other Ford runners, like Dick Johnson, knowing the error. Instead of a car that weighed around 1600 kg, the Falcon only had to be about 1400. This was how Dick was able to run just 450 bhp and still be as fast as the Chev and the lighter (but less powerful) Commodores. They had been given a massive bonus on power to weight.

550+ hp I believe.

Dick Johnson used to say a little over 400hp

@@MrGutfeeling no way it's 550+ probably around high 300s to low 400s

@@MrGutfeeling LOL Nowhere near it this era. The 351 of DJ had mid 400s and the very best 308s had just on 400hp

@@scordatura9259 Vast amounts of money was spent on these engines to extract every last horse possible from them. Teams were known to spend over $100,000 just yo blue print and balance the engines. Back then we had street legal 5 litre Holden V8’s ( 302 ci ) putting out over 400 hp with a mild cam to make them drivable. Most of these fords and Chevy powered race cars were not driveable on the roads and far quicker than the 5 litre Holden engines.

that too :-)