Back in March we launched our sponsorship and involvement with the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. XFORCE Performance Exhaust is the Official Exhaust Supplier for the series, supplying all 32 Holden and Ford UTES with custom XFORCE cat-back systems.

XFORCE chooses to conduct and engage in various areas of Research and Development. We believe our involvement with motorsports plays a vital role for our company and creating durable performance products with proven results. Our intentions are to make discoveries that lead to the development of new products or procedures, or the improvement of existing products or procedures. Research and development is one of the means by which our company continues to grow by developing new products and processes to improve and expand our operations.

It’s been a crazy few months since announcing our involvement with the V8 UTE series but we are absolutely enjoying every minute of it. It has been great working with all the teams, our engineers have been hard at work at the manufacturing labs and we can’t wait to reveal our latest creation for all competitors.


Last week we decided to make a trip out to our friends at Terry Bull Racing who have three V8 UTE’s currently competing in the 2013 season. As we arrived at the workshop we were greeted by the STRATCO Transporter and Rhys McNally’s VE Commodore peeking out the window.



As we knocked on the door we were greeted by the man himself, Terry Bull. Terry has been in the racing business for many, many years so we thought we’d ask him a few questions about his background and the V8 UTE series.



XFORCE: So can you tell us a bit about Terry Bull Racing? We know you’ve been in the business for quite some time. Where has the racing world taken you all these years?

Terry Bull: I’ve been doing this for many many years. To sum it up as short as I can, I started with Allan Moffat in 1976 and have spent 5 years in Europe. I’ve been a part of F3000, Formula 3 (we won the F3 championship in Germany), Formula 1 and even Touring Car teams. But these days I’m back in Australia racing three V8 UTES.




XFORCE: So who drives the red STRATCO Holden?

Terry: Car 26 is driven by Rhys McNally. He’s a young gun from Perth – a very skilled driver and after the Townsville 400 round he is currently 4th in the championship. Rhys still has a very good chance at taking out the championship. I also look after two other cars, this Holden here driven by Richard Bloomfield and the Ford in the corner driven by former Rugby League player Jack Elsegood. We won the championship with Jack back in 2009.



XFORCE: Could you give us a quick rundown on the rules and regulations of the V8 UTEs series?

Terry: Basically all the cars are designed to be exactly the same. In terms of the brake package: everyone’s got the same brakes. The same pads, the same discs and callipers are all the same. The ABS is disconnected. The spring and shock absorbers are all made by the same company and are adjustable on bump and rebound. We all run the same tyres and are usually limited to 6 tyres per weekend. Both Holden and Fords retain the standard gearbox but the Holden ratios have been changed to be the same as the Ford. (Diff ratio is the same) The engines are standard and we’re not allowed to fiddle with it – all engines are put together by a prescribe engine builder. The engines are controlled by a Motec computer system which is locked for all competitors. And of course our exhausts are all custom systems by XFORCE Performance Exhausts.





XFORCE: What do you think about XFORCE coming on board as a sponsor for the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series?

“I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s great for the series. It’s another step up for us. XFORCE coming on board as the Official Exhaust supplier this year has given us more power and more torque. The cars are faster and fun for the drivers and this means better racing. It’s been amazing to work with XFORCE. We’ve fitted the new systems onto all our cars and they’ve been perfect. They produce more noise too so fantastic for the spectators.




Pictured here is, Patrick. Terry’s right hand man at the workshop and all race meetings. Together with Terry, Patrick prepares all 3 cars for each round during the year.



The Holden runs a Twin 3 inch mandrel bent system with two perforated "hot dog" style resonators per side and also features the "X" pipe exhaust gas balancing system which increase power and torque.





The Fords also run a Twin 3" mandrel bent system with two perforated "hot dog" style resonators in the intermediate section and one "twin in, twin out" 3" muffler at the rear.



Next stop for Terry Bull Racing is the Sandown 500 (Sep 13-15). We wish the team the very best.


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Links:

www.xforce.com.au

www.v8utes.com.au