The BA Ford Falcon, the most successful racecar in Australian Touring Car Championship history will take to the track for the last time at the final round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the Caterpillar Grand Finale at Phillip Island on 8-10 December.

From 2007 Ford will campaign the BF MkII Falcon on racetracks in the V8 Supercar Championship Series. The Touringcar Entrants Group of Australia (TEGA) has approved the BF MkII for racing from round #1 at Adelaide in March.

Since its debut in 2003, the BA Falcon has set the standard in V8 Supercar racing. It's taken 29 round wins, three Drivers' titles, three Teams' championships, and most importantly to Ford, three Manufacturers' trophies.

The next best record is the Holden Commodore VT with 26 round wins.

Leading the charge for Ford during this period has been Stone Brothers Racing. With star driver Marcos Ambrose and his Pirtek Racing Falcon winning two titles, 13 round wins and 10 pole positions. Meanwhile his team-mate Russell Ingall (Caltex Racing) took the 2005 Drivers' title and four rounds wins.

The other star has been without doubt Craig Lowndes. Lowndes is the only driver to win in a BA Falcon for two teams, CAT Ford Performance Racing and Team Betta Electrical. Lowndes has collected nine round wins, including Bathurst this year with Jamie Whincup, and five pole positions. He's currently just seven-points behind Rick Kelly in the 2006 title chase.

At the most recent round in Bahrain Jason Bright (CAT Ford Performance Racing) scored his second win aboard the BA Falcon and secured the Manufacturers' title again for Ford.

Developed in-house at Ford during late 2001 and 2002, the BA Falcon was the first factory built racecar since the XA GT Falcon in 1974. Ironically it was the late Howard Marsden who led both programs. It was through his vision of developing a strong group of Ford teams that the BA has enjoyed continued success.

The new BF MkII Falcon will feature an updated aerodynamic package in-line with the introduction of the VE Commodore.

"It's been a great workhorse for Ford," said Ford Racing Manager Ray Price.

"Under the leadership of the late Howard Marsden the BA Falcon's development for racing meant that it really did hit the track running.

"Despite his passing in 2003 his legacy has continued and importantly a lot of the things he put in place continue through to today and the future. This includes a direction in race engineering headed by Steve Hoinville who worked on the BA, the BF MkII and has been part of the group working on the next-generation Falcon.

"The BF MkII was developed with input from all the Ford teams and the result is a racecar that will again be a great competitor against the new Commodore.

"The BF MkII won't be on track for four seasons like the BA, but it will be a formidable piece of equipment for the Ford teams.

"TEGA is now in the process of finalising all the necessary updates for the BF MkII and that will be supplied to Ford teams to test ahead of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on 1-4 March".

Although not eligible for the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the BA Falcon will continue to be raced in the Fujitsu (Development) V8 Series. The BA Falcon won the 2005 title with Dean Canto and is also the vehicle driven by 2006 Fujitsu Series leader Adam Macrow.

you'll still see plenty of BA's out there from the privateer companies .. but yes for the main stream racing teams the BA has earnt it's retirement!

it has all come about bacause of the ve commodore. because it is a whole new car requiring a whole new aero kit which is part of project blueprint where both manufacturers run the same or similar amounts of downforce and drag. because the weight distribution is a lot different on the ve a totally new aero kit has been developed and so a new kit has been developed for the ford also to make sure both are running similar numbers. it has nothing to do with the advent of the bf2 seeing as how the xr's are what the race car looks are based on and the bf2 xr's are unchanged. they run similar style front bars to gt's.

the same thing happened when ford went from au to ba. the introduction of project blueprint.

because of the weight distribution in the ve's i reckon they will be a very good racecar.

2006 may be the last year Ford wins the Championship, as it seems as though the VE may just give us a whooping. Hopefully not.
C'mon Lowndes, finish off that little Kelly poof and win the 2006 comp!!!

i think the situation will remain as it has been for the last few years. both cars run same capacity engines putting out extremely similar, if not the same power, same suspension, same brakes (from 2007), same tyres, aero kits producing same downforce etc etc. just a change of shell if you ask me.

indeed a great car

the ba sure is an awesome piece of machinery...
i think its the best car ford have made after of course the good old xy falcons...

Me salutes the BA falcon... a saviour after the whooping the AU got in the hands of the VT...-bad o'l days..