BA Falcon

The Ford BA Falcon was Ford's first car of the Project Blueprint era (2003–2006) — the BA-model body on the category's new parity package.

Project Blueprint — a parity reset, not a control chassis

Project Blueprint was a big engineering reset, but a parity exercise rather than a control-chassis one. For 2003 it brought the two marques together by standardising the front suspension geometry, key dimensions and much of the running gear: a common double-wishbone front (the Commodore moving off its strut), a live rear axle located by four parallel links and a Watts linkage, a front-mounted Holinger six-speed, the Dunlop control tyre, a mandated control ECU and a minimum weight of 1350 kg (1355 kg from 2004). Teams still designed and built their own chassis, though — the common control chassis didn't arrive until Car of the Future in 2013.

Body & aero

The BA carried the road car's silhouette, with the aerodynamic package worked to Blueprint's parity-controlled envelope — a front splitter and undertray and a boot-mounted rear wing. The point of Blueprint was to bring the two marques' downforce and drag close together, so the aero was a controlled package rather than free development; the splitter, undertray and wing are set by the technical rules rather than published as per-car figures here.

Engine & driveline

Stone Brothers Racing developed the works Falcon engine — a 5.0-litre V8 with an SVO iron block and aluminium heads, fuel-injected on the control ECU, quoted around 620 rising to 635+ bhp, limited to 7500 rpm with a 10:1 compression ceiling and about 455 ft-lb of torque. Drive ran through the Holinger six-speed and a Ford 9-inch differential on the control 3.25 / 3.5 / 3.7 final-drive set (a longer 3.15 was added for Bathurst from 2005), via an AP Racing triple-plate carbon clutch.

Brakes, wheels & tyres

The championship Stone Brothers car ran Brembo Monobloc six-piston front calipers on 360 mm discs and O.Z 17×12 wheels — but neither was universal: brake make and wheel supplier varied by team (the 2006 control-brake list approved AP Racing, Brembo, Alcon, PFC and Harrop), so other BA runners used different combinations. The tyre was the single-make Dunlop control.

Evolution

The BA raced 2003–2006 before the facelifted BF Falcon took over the same mechanical package for 2007.

For the BA's championship record, see the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons. Sources: harvested V8 Supercar media-guide spec sheets (Stone Brothers Racing) + Division C technical rules — Grade B; Project Blueprint standardisation — Grade B/D.