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Anthony Maatouk – The RB King
Welcome to Haltech Heroes, where we celebrate masterminds of mechanical marvels and wizards behind the wheel.
These are the drivers, builders, and enthusiasts whose blood bleeds Haltech yellow instead of red. From record-breaking rides to show-stopping creations, we’ll showcase these incredible Haltech-equipped machines and the innovative minds that bring them to life.
But the story doesn’t end there. YOU get to crown the ultimate Haltech Hero, and in doing so, you could win an iC-7 dash! – Voting is now open. VOTE FOR THE DON HERE
From humble beginnings turbocharging Nissan RB30-powered VL Commodores in Sydney’s south-west, Maatouks Racing is now a name that’s known all over the world, showing merciless domination of Nissan’s RB engine platform and known to be some of the fiercest competitors you can line up against at the drag strip.
Anthony Maatouk, the man behind some of the world’s most powerful RB engines admits that he’s largely self-taught, building many of his own engines as a young rev-head and fumbling his way through turbo conversions by trial and error, hungry to make more power.
He recalls one of his first serious builds to bear the iconic VL GOD numberplates. It was a pink VL Commodore wearing an HDT LE body kit that could cover the quarter mile in 10 seconds, and remains one of the most famous VLs in Australia.
The VL GOD race car was the shop’s first foray in to dedicated race cars, having previously fabricated their drag cars using heavily modified street chassis, and while the VL GOD race car is a far cry from the vehicle that debuted 14 years ago. The car covered the quarter mile in 7.8sec upon debut, and was the focus of much of their attention for years to come.
The Maaouk’s Racing business then took a hard left-hand turn to focus on the Nissan GT-R Skyline platform, applying the same relentless ambition that made them so successful with the Holden VL Commodore, making a splash with several 8sec GT-Rs.
The Maatouks team expanded their horizons and built several GT-Rs that dominated Roll Racing events around the country, applying learnings from these events about turbo sizing and driveline combinations to their true love – drag racing.
It’s here that the fierce competition against other GT-R-focused workshops captivated racing fans around Australia and the globe, and while there’s been plenty of tough talk and close races, Anthony insists that this competition has made Australian GT-Rs the best built and fastest in the world.
Their RB engine development program peaked with the introduction of THE DON – a purpose-built chassis imported from the Zoian Racing team, formerly the world’s quickest rear wheel drive 2JZ-powered Pro Mod running 5.66sec@255mph.
The capability of THE DON’s chassis unearthed the true potential of the Maatouk’s engines and drivelines, with the billet block RB stroker engine having run 5.77sec@250mph, but is yet to run a clean pass the whole way down the track.
The team is creeping up on their goal of a 5.4sec pass to keep up with Australia’s fastest 2JZ engines. THE DON uses the full suite of Haltech sensors and a UC-10 dash, along with a Nexus R5 that allows them to unlock efficiencies in their racing with trick features like injector staging for the three Siemens injectors fueling each cylinder – that’s 18 injectors in total!
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