Ingall, 60, turned laps in the Stone Brothers Racing BA following the car’s meticulous restoration by the Kiwi brothers themselves, Supercars Hall of Famers Ross and Jimmy.
It came as part of a celebration of Ford at the annual historic event which incorporated the opening round of the Toyota Regional Formula Oceania Championship.
Memories of the 2005 title triumph came flooding back for Ingall and, in true ‘Enforcer’ fashion, he took the opportunity to have a cheeky swipe at the modern era.
“I can tell you, it felt as good 20 years later as the day I jumped out of it at Phillip Island in 2005,” he wrote on social media.
“And by the way, even with rock hard Dunlops on it, still put up a pretty competitive time compared to a certain Supercars race here last year. Real men drive H-Pattern!”
Ingall’s 2005 title completed a three-peat for SBR following back-to-back successes with Marcos Ambrose.
The Stone brothers sold their team to Betty Klimenko in 2012 – making way for the formation of Erebus Motorsport – but hung onto both championship Falcons to restore as retirement projects.
They completed the Ambrose car in 2020 and were slowly chipping away on the Caltex Havoline machine before a call from one of Ingall’s former rivals sped things up.
“It’s been a bit of work,” Ross Stone told Greg Rust at Taupo.
“We were just cruising along rebuilding it and then (Greg) Murphy (working for Taupo owner Tony Quinn) phoned to see if we could bring it over here.
“Then all of a sudden there’s an end date. Anyway, we made it, and we enjoyed it.”
The 2005 championship win was a breakthrough for Ingall having finished runner-up four times previously, three with Perkins Engineering and then during the previous season with SBR.
“The Ambrose car was special to us,” said Jimmy, “but to get Russell to win a championship, it was pretty special because he’d finished second so many times and nobody else could do it.”
The level of detail in the restoration includes an original engine, gearbox and seat used by the driver in 2005, much to Ingall’s delight.
“I couldn’t believe he thought so much of an old race car,” added Jimmy.
Dubbed SBR BA03, Ingall drove his title-winning car for three seasons until the driver and sponsor both departed the team.
“It’s like a time warp,” Ingall told Rust of being reunited with it. “I’m walking around this car, and this was like the beginning of 2005 when I jumped into it when it was brand new.
“I’m sitting in it and all of a sudden all those things start coming back… it’s very special and I’m pretty humbled to jump in this thing.”
Ingall’s championship season is perhaps best remembered for a spectacular burnout performed by the driver while hanging out the side of the Falcon after clinching the title at the Phillip Island season finale.
The smoky celebration instantly became a part of Supercars folklore which last year’s first-time champion, Will Brown, paid tribute to with his own attempt in Adelaide.
Ingall’s win came during a golden era for Supercars, rich with money from Ford and Holden and flushed with out-spoken star drivers and a mix of traditional and newly-founded powerhouse teams.
“There were so many great teams, Stone Brothers Racing obviously being one of them, but generally the drivers, there were so many heavy personality drivers, fierce competition, fierce rivals,” he said.
“A lot of people ask me if I’d like to start racing against now and I say no, I wouldn’t.
“That era for me was one of the best in Australian motorsport ever and to be part of that [was special].”
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