Ford DJR 320 Falcon 2004 Review

Cresting a hill on a tight and twisty mountain road, a rock lies in wait of a fast-moving, deep blue V8 Falcon bearing Dick Johnson's name. But it's not October 1980, it's not Bathurst and it's not Dick Johnson driving. This is April 2004 and I am behind the wheel of the Queensland racing legend's brand new DJR 320 Falcon on a Victorian country road.

Even so, it could so easily have ended in tears, just as it did for Johnson on that fateful day almost 24 years ago -- the day Edsel Ford II and motor racing fans around the country raised $70,000 to rescue Dick's sinking career.

Had I hit my rock, there would have been no such donation for me and even if there was, it would still leave me 20 grand short of the replacement price of this $90,000 Ford. Luckily, no appeal was necessary thanks to the Falcon's massive brakes and incredibly responsive dynamics.

The DJR 320 is the result of a joint venture between Dick Johnson, who helped develop the car (and sells it through his Queensland racing facility), and Ford performance specialist, Rob Herrod, who bolts them together.

According to Herrod, both organisations were planning to build enhanced road cars using the XR8 as a starting point but decided it was better to combine the efforts of each organisation to produce the one car.

"DJR was initially going to build a car of its own and Steve Chalker (DJR general manager) approached me about some components, and the more components I decided were going to sell the car the more it became the Herrod car," said Herrod.

"So instead of me competing with them we ended up 50-50 partners. Initially, DJR was going to build them in the race shop but there just isn't the facility up there to do it. My thoughts were I build good road cars, you build good racecars, let me built the road cars and you guys market it."

Johnson had two reasons for getting involved in road cars: "I have always wanted to build a car that I'd like to drive on the road the way I like to drive a car (but) the main reason is to find other ways of enhancing our budget for the race team," he said.

While excellent on-road performance was essential, both Johnson and Herrod wanted the car to double as a weekend racer.

"We decided to make the thing a true racer's sort of car - you should be able to get that thing out on a track and pump it all day long and drive it home; that's the whole idea of it," said Herrod.

Critical to achieving that desire was the aforementioned ability to brake and turn like no other Falcon.

"I wanted something that stops (and) something that handles as well as having a respectable amount of straight-line speed," explained Dick. "It is all very well to go fast in a straight line but if you can't stop or go around corners, it's not much use."

The car's nature prompts comparisons with FPV's GT, an interesting situation as it places the DJR car in possible conflict with his long term supporter -- and saviour -- Ford. Johnson, however, says his beast is a very different Falcon and in a market of its own.

"It is certainly priced in another bracket and it is a different type of car; it is more or less competition for the (HSV) GTS 300," he said. "It is an area where I didn't believe FPV was going; it is very much a niche market. The body kit is quite a bit different and the performance is probably a little better. And with all the drama there has been over the years about making cars too fast, we can probably get away with marketing something like that whereas Ford might have a problem."

Additionally, Herrod says he doesn't have the build-capacity to worry FPV.

"I can't see what threat we are to FPV. If we build 50 of these, great, we're doing well but what's that compared to what they build? They'd pump that out in a week or two. As long as a Ford is sold, that's all that matters."

More than 12 months of development effort went into the DJR 320, with Johnson clocking up plenty of frequent flyer points travelling to Herrod's Melbourne workshop.

"We gave him the bounds of what we wanted in a car," said Johnson. "We had a few shots at a few things along the way -- different shock settings and things like that because you don't want to shake your eye-teeth out but you don't want a car that slops all over the road, either. I think most people will buy it to run at sprint meetings and the like, and for that you need a compromise."

Added Herrod: "He would go out driving, come back, change things, and go out again. We would keep trying things until we came up with something he thought was a good thing. And mate, he drives the things hard. Have you ever been with him?"

The Falcon's amazingly sharp steering comes courtesy of adjustable Koni dampers front and rear, special-rate progressive coil springs and a substantially lowered ride height. There is also super low-profile Dunlop SP Sport 9000 tyres -- 245/35 front, 285/30 rear -- mounted on 19in DJR-BBS Motorsport alloy wheels and camber, castor and toe in have been revised.

Johnson has also specified massive brakes -- 366mm discs with Alcon six-piston monoblock callipers on the front and 340mm with Alcon four-piston callipers on the rear. To put that in some perspective, the discs are 6mm bigger on the front and 10mm bigger on the rear than the brakes that stop DJR's 300km/h V8 Supercars.

However the five times Australian Touring Car Champion denies the brakes are over-the-top, even though they add more than the cost of a Hyundai Getz to the Falcon's price.

"With brakes I don't think you could ever have overkill," he said. "Some of these guys want to drive a car fast and when they can't stop it's not much fun, and I think it compliments the size of the tyres."

Surprisingly little work has been done to the 5.4lt DOHC engine to lift output to 320kW and 540Nm; only the camshafts, dual exhaust and air intake are different to the standard 260kW/500Nm XR8 specification.

"It's not hard (to get the power)," explained Herrod. "Camshafts and exhausts are very critical and we get a bit more air in the things and they liven up, no drama."

Though the DJR 320 and the GT produce similar outputs ("I've seen GTs that make 250kW at the rear wheels once they are run in," said Herrod), the engines have been designed with different philosophies.

"The GT runs a little bit higher compression and different camshafts and valves; not size, just the length of the valve," said Herrod. "You drive a GT with our exhaust and computer and bits and pieces and it doesn't drive like the DJR. That's what surprised me. I can't believe how much better it is than a GT. You drive an XR8 it's a fantastic car; you drive a GT and that's a fantastic car; you get into ours and it's better again."

Herrod says more horses are there for the taking, but problems with Ford's 'pulsing idle', which at times cause the DRJ 320 to cut out, prevent him from unleashing them.

"I can make another 20kW at least but I can't put more aggressive camshafts in because I can't control the idle. It's a common problem, even with standard XR8 but it is accentuated with the big camshafts in our car. I reckon I've spent 400 to 500 hours on it and the harder I looked to find a solution, the more I find out Ford has got such a problem with it themselves."

Ford's 6000rpm rev limit also confines power.

"Three or 400 (extra) rpm is all we need because on the chassis dyno it is still making power when it hits the rev limiter. Unfortunately, Ford won't help us; FPV controls all the tuning equipment; they tune the XR8 for Ford so can you imagine knocking on their door asking can we use the software to extend the rev limiter?

"But I have got three different lots of people throughout the world with Ford ECUs, reverse engineering them and hopefully we can break in and lift the rev limiters ourselves because we need that and we need another 100rpm on the idle. We're not far off it and once we have that we should be able to do more."

Another performance limitation is Ford's slow shifting five-speed gearbox, though shift action and feel have been significantly improved by Herrod's short-shift kit, which is topped by a Momo gear knob. A four-speed auto is also available.

Externally, the DJR 320 looks like no other Falcon; it's very low stance, big wheels, unique body kit with subtle rear wing, and special badging produces an aesthetically pleasing result that commands attention.

The jury is still out on the fake bonnet scoop though -- most people we spoke to hated it, though it does break the all-too-conservative mould of other performance Ford offerings.

There is nothing conservative about the interior, with specially designed front and rear leather trimmed seats and gear-stick boot, colour coded to suit the vehicle. DJR logos abound; there's one on each headrest, the tacho and speedo, and door sill trims.

Disappointingly, the DJR makes use of Ford's premium steering wheel; Herrod says the cost of tooling has prevented the production of a unique item, though a solution may have been found.

The basic cost of the car, which is covered by a 100,000km, three-year warranty, is around $90,000 before options such as TV, DVD, satellite navigation and sunroof are added.

On the road you quickly discover the DJR 320 is exhilarating to drive, especially on twisty, open roads. Given the lowered suspension and super low profile tyres, the ride is superb and while you feel every bump, it's never uncomfortable, even on the occasions that the Falcon bottoms-out. The pay-off is extraordinary roadholding and well-weighted, razor sharp steering with superb turn-in. There's no trace of understeer, unless you go into a very tight corner way too hot.

Power is massive, and there is a constant surge with every up-change, though the car is let down by the 6000 rev limit and slow gearbox. The engine revs to the limit quickly but the slow change -- even with the short shift fitted -- kills fluency. Traction is excellent -- when you stand on the throttle, the rear end squats, the big Dunlops bite and the car launches out of corners. And the exhaust note is glorious, too.

It is impossible to overstate how good the brakes are -- their ability to wash-off speed is simply amazing. At times they reached the lock-up threshold easier than expected, though with ABS this isn't a problem, unless you're being tailgated.

Given this car is built primarily as a weekday corporate express, it needs to be tractable and easy to drive in traffic, and it is -- the Falcon will idle away from standstill without any application of the accelerator.

No fuel consumption figures were taken, however the engine appeared very thirsty when driven hard. But if you have to ask the consumption, you can't afford it. Our only driving concern was the ease at which the low front spoiler could be scraped on driveways.

With sales already exceeding Johnson's and Herrod's expectations, it seems likely a range of DJR specials will be created. Variants of the 320 are already underway -- a 450kW supercharged version was near completion as we closed for press, and a ute is due in the shop this week.

"A lot depends on how this goes," explained Dick. "If this is successful it would be nice if we can build a cheaper version for guys that don't want to get up to this sort of bracket, just come back on a number of things. We have sold about 20 of them so far and delivered about seven."

Added Rob: "I want to do some turbos and lower budget vehicles in the DJR range. It's good to have this type of car but we have to hit people with lower budgets too."