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My HSV GTS and Clubsport


Diehard fans can recall famous Bathurst victories of up to 40 years ago that they watched trackside or on the couch year-by-year. They remember the legendary drivers who used to race roadcars around the mountain at breakneck speed.

But the V8 Supercars that tore themselves to pieces around the new Homebush track  have little in common with the road-going V8s on sale today.  Rising fuel prices have scared many away from buying a V8 for the road but there is a passionate core keeping the bent-eight flag flying high. Sales figures this year show the V8 is a constant in a dwindling big-car market.

Holden director of sales John Elsworth says 10 to 14 per cent of Commodore sales this year are V8-engined machines and that hasn't changed "for years".  At Holden and Ford's performance arms, Holden Special Vehicles and Ford Performance Vehicles, V8 sales are the core of their existence.

One of the biggest V8 fans is Sam Mangiapane who owns two HSVs. Mangiapane bought a new HSV GTS this year and also has a VY Clubsport. He is the vice-president of the HSV Owners Club of NSW.  The GTS has a 6.2-litre LS3 V8 engine putting out 317kW of power and 550Nm of torque.

The claimed fuel economy is 14.5 litres per 100km but Mangiapane says rising petrol prices wouldn't stop him and many others buying a V8.
"I'd keep buying them regardless," he says. "It won't stop people buying an HSV, or an FPV for that matter, because they are so passionate about them.

"Put it this way: I've yet to hear someone say they'd have to sell their car because it had become too expensive to run it."  Mangiapane says many V8 owners keep their fuel costs down by not driving them every day. Instead they are used for weekend runs, club activities and special outings.   Driving it every day becomes expensive," he says.

Mangiapane says opponents of V8s who see them as gas-guzzling dinosaurs don't realise that technology has improved the cars' efficiency and economy."  The V8s of today are not like the V8s of the `80s and `90s. They are a lot better on economy and with greenhouse gases."

Automatic-transmission V8 Holdens now feature technology that enables four of the cylinders to be shut down to save fuel when the car is cruising.

Mangiapane loves driving V8s because of their performance. "The horsepower is the main thing. It's the power and it's the looks."  According to Mangiapane, club membership is rising by up to 10 per cent a year, ranging across the age groups. Nearly 10 per cent of the members are women.

The current VE model is popular among club members, though the cheaper and older VS and VR models are also common club cars.  He says Holden's racing history, and Peter Brock in particular, are fond topics of conversation among HSV owners.

HSV is now in its 21st year of business. It was started in 1988 as a joint venture between Holden and Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which then also ran  Holden's race team.  After years of the company passing through different hands and arrangements, today Walkinshaw owns the business again.

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