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HSV supercharged V8 tipped to top W427

The new record is still top secret but insiders say the result betters the reigning champion.

A fast blast from Holden Special Vehicles is expected to soon set a new horsepower high for Australia's favourite Commodore.

The hot Holden shop has been working overtime to create something special to headline its VF range and is believed to have come up with a supercharged V8 engine that will trump anything from HSV in the past.

The new record is still top secret but insiders say the result betters the reigning champion, the limited-edition HSV W427 that cranked out 375 kiloWatts and 640 Newton-metres from a 7.0-litre V8 back in 2008.

The standard for the current E Series cars from HSV is 325 kiloWatts from the 6.2-litre LS3 Gen4 V8. HSV refuses to even discuss details of its VF-based models despite Holden's official unveiling of the family favourite and its own previews last month to dealers and small group of company insiders.

"I cannot talk about future models," the managing director of HSV, Phil Harding, tells Carsguide.

"My job is to sell the cars I have now." But HSV knows it has to hit hard as it moves into the VF era, as it's almost certain to be the last old-school Commodore with a thumping V8 in the nose and old-school rear-wheel drive.

Harding is a stickler for detail and engineering excellence, two of the reasons why HSV - despite years of research and testing - has not done a number on the locally-made four-cylinder Cruze. He says the car cannot provide the power and handling improvements necessary to win an HSV badge.

But the F Series, definitely not a plain-James VF, is looking like a new champion. “We don't have a project in our business called VF," Harding says, while again refusing to discuss the new Commodore.

But others are more open. "The car looks fantastic. The body kit is much more aggressive," one of the guests at a preview tells Carsguide. "It's going to set a power record," says another.

The F Series is the first HSV model to be developed since the death of the company's founder and guiding force, Tom Walkinshaw. He was one of the fans of the four-door HSV 427 and even shipped one to Britain for use as his personal car.

This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover