R on Harrop needs no introduction here. A gifted engineer, his name is legendary in the world of high performance Aussie muscle car and racing engineering. Harrop also made a name for himself out on the track, starting in the ‘60s in drag racing at the wheel of a self-built and ludicrously fast ‘humpy’ Holden, the appropriately named ‘Harrop’s Howler’.
Then in the early ‘70s Harrop decided to go road racing. In 1973 he won the under 3.0-litre division of Calder’s popular six-cylinder series – finishing second overall to no less than Peter Brock in an alloy-headed HDT Torana XU-1.
Like Harrop’s Howler in drag racing, Harrop’s EH in Sports Sedan competition was quick by six-cylinder standards – at Calder it was within three seconds of the outright Sports Sedan lap record.
Ever the promoter/entrepreneur, Bob Jane noted how well Harrop was going with the yellow EH and saw an opportunity. With an injection of cash and a V8 engine transplant, Jane surmised that Harrop and his EH could be a front runner in the big time of the Marlboro Sports Sedan Series – and potentially an additional crowd-pleasing drawcard for the Jane-owned Calder track.
Jane had just the engine for the job sitting idle in his workshop – a 480bhp Repco-Holden Formula 5000 V8 from the Jane team’s Bowin P8 F5000 programme which had been aborted a few years earlier.
Initially the Holden V8 was slotted into the EH’s engine bay as a straight swap for the 179 six, but later Harrop moved the engine rearwards into the cabin area to improve front/rear weight distribution – in classic Sports Sedan style.
He devised some heavy under-bonnet bracing in order to keep chassis flexing to a minimum. Under the strain of
