Ford’s GT nameplate had sat dormant since the late 1970s albeit for a brief return during the EB and EF generations of the Falcon during the 1990s, but it returned in a big way with the introduction of the BA.
Highly acclaimed, the BA Falcon rejuvenated Ford in Australia both on and off track, while the launch of a performance brand to compete with Holden Special Vehicles heralded a new rivalry in the muscle car stakes.
Ford Performance Vehicles took over from Tickford as the local hero brand for the Blue Oval in a partnership between noted automotive company Prodrive and Ford Australia.
In what was a return of the GT nameplate to the mainline Falcon line-up since the XB version during the mid-1970s.
The FPV featured a 5.4-litre Boss 290 V8 with high performance pistons, larger internal pillars, special ring pack, specially balanced crankshafts, re-engineered connecting rods, high performance tri-metal main and big end bearings, Cobra R inlet and exhaust camshaft profiles, high lift camshafts and more.
Delivering power was either a four-speed BTR automatic or Tremec five-speed manual transmission in what was a well credentialled model at time of release.
In fact, the BA GT heralded the return of the nameplate to the racetrack and back to its roots as in production car racing.
Competing against the likes of key rival HSV, Japanese hot fours Subaru, Mitsubishi and Nissan, as well as European BMWs, the GT was entered in the Australian GT Performance Championship as part of the Procar Champ Series in 2003.
Raced by Trevor Haines to replace his aging Tickford TE50, the first GT debuted at Queensland Raceway and went onto enter the Bathurst 24 Hour.
In 2004, a second GT was entered into the category for truck racer John Falk as he remained a frontrunner until Team GT pulled out at the end of 2005.
James Phillip in his GT won the model’s first race at Phillip Island in 2006 to uphold honours for the marque in the category until its demise at the end of the next season.