HSV News

The fastest car to emerge from the hot Holden shop is now pegged at a production run of 200 cars, and not the 427 optimistically forecast when the car was launched earlier this year. HSV believes the 200 cap will be a better deal for its owners, as it has held limited-edition numbers to a similar level in the past. "Today's announcement clarifies the final build number for this ambitious, ground breaking program," says HSV's managing director, Phil Harding. "With the W427 we have designed, built and sold our most exclusive vehicle ever. Production has already reached 95 cars and there are up to 40 orders in the pipeline at Clayton, where HSV created a special mini production line to create the 7-litre monster. Final orders will be taken in June and Harding confirms the price will be held at $155,500. While the W427 program will finish by the end of '09, Harding does not rule out something similar in coming years.

Newspaper reports have this week suggested that Top Gear Australia has racked up a significant figure in car repair bills as a result of "eager driving" and "wild and silly stunts".

So well in fact that some customers are buying two of HSV's most-powerful weapons, the W427, one to drive and one to keep as a collectors' item and investment.HSV spokesman, Simon Frost, says the Clayton-based performance car builder is on target to deliver 90 W427s this year and has 30 forward orders already for the first quarter of next year."Our experience is that it's not marginal customers who are buying the 427, it's really passionate car enthusiasts who love our brand," he says.In a sense the W427 is HSV's crisis proof car.Frost says the plan is to build “up to" 427, a number that refers to the 7.0-litre V8's old-fashioned cubic-inch capacity.However, he says that the car does not have a "never-ending" lifespan."These will be built to order," he says."At some point or other there will have to be a decision about the final build but it won't be any more than 427."That means there's a good chance the 427 be HSV's hero car for future generations despite the unveiling of the 7.4-litre Pontiac GXP Street Concept at the recent SEMA trade show in Las Vegas.Frost says HSV has no plans to slide the massive 7.4-litre V8 _ codenamed LSX454 _ under the bonnet of a local HSV for an even brawnier performance car.The show car is a made for America car only, he says."We have no plans to look at that car from an HSV perspective," he says."Our hero car is the 427 and the two-year research and development program to bring that to market was expensive and it's produced a car that we're excited about and has a good reception in the market despite all the doom and gloom around."The W427 shares its V8 with the Chevrolet Corvette and is hand-made on a separate production line at GM in Detroit, the same line that built the 7.4-litre Street Concept engine.The W427 develops 375kW at 6500 revs and 640Nm at 5000 revs.The LSX454 cranks out 476kW and a whopping 813Nm, 101kW and 193Nm more than even the hottest HSV.Frost says HSV is conscious of growing green concerns about fuel-guzzling V8s.HSV is looking at different technologies as well as their conventional V8s as part of the wider approach to deliver greener cars."It's not about producing bigger and more powerful engines," he says."And we still want to have that core HSV DNA in any vehicle."But other options that use less petrol or different forms of combustion are under consideration." 

The Team Vodafone star has been the man-to-beat all year and holds a 187 point lead over his arch-rival, Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom with only two rounds remaining.The young racer has poured all his focus into winning this year's title. He doesn't have a girlfriend, he doesn't have any hobbies. He lives for one thing; to be the best V8 Supercar driver in the country.And so far his plan is working.Over the last five rounds Whincup has taken the most of any driver.At Winton he finished the weekend on equal points with Garth Tander and Will Davison.Despite a race-losing mistake at the Phillip Island 500, he still finished that weekend with the most points.He followed that with a dominating win at the Bathurst 1000 with Craig Lowndes. And hasn't lost a race since, powering to clean sweeps on the Gold Coast and in Bahrain.But after losing a huge points lead earlier the year at Hamilton when he was taken out in a qualifying crash, he's making sure he doesn't get over-confident."We're not getting too far ahead of ourselves," Whincup said after Bahrain."There's still 600 points up for grabs in six races so, of course I'd be silly not to change my approach from here on in."I want this championship more than anyone else and will do whatever it takes to try and be No.1 at the end."It's the right attitude to have because V8 Supercars can be an unpredictable sport, and one mistake could see his lead vanish again.Winterbottom knows that Whincup has pulled out a comfortable gap, but has vowed to keep his foot down to be ready to pounce if Whincup slips up."We haven't given up," Winterbottom said. "Until the chequered flag drops at Oran Park we won't concede defeat. Each round is getting a lot harder but you never know what will happen; we've got two more tracks, two different scenarios."Whichever one of the two Ford young guns that wins the title, they will both look back on this season as a coming-of-age.They have emerged from years of learning as two of the sport's best talents and look set to continue their rivalry that dates back to childhood for years to come.Pre-season favourite Tander knows how they feel. It wasn't long ago he was in the same position as an budding young steerer.Now, though, he is in a very different position. He has gone from the hunter to the hunted this season as the defending champion leading the factory-backed Holden Racing Team.He has fought a lone battle this year for Holden against the Ford chargers. The fight has turned increasingly ugly as he and Winterbottom engage in heated battle both on and off the track.It reached a peak at Bahrain when Winterbottom accidently spun Tander around in the first race and left both of them back in the pack and handed the advantage to Whincup."It was the most unprofessional race I have ever been involved in and I don't know what he was thinking," Tander said of the clash."It is not the way you play the field when you need points. He has made it a lot harder for both of us."And it wasn't just Winterbottom he had a problem with as Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes spent several laps banging fenders with him.Tander has vowed to fight fire-with-fire to get revenge for rough tactics, meaning Winterbottom will have to play it safe around his Holden rival on the tight confines of Symmons Plains."The driving standards from everyone I raced against this weekend were poor. I don't have a problem with people passing but they need to show some professional courtesy and give you some room," Tander said."I can't remember a race like that and if that's what the guidelines are, well, then I look forward to racing them all later in the year."Although 292 points behind Whincup Tander has vowed to keep fighting."The championship is looking extremely tough and every race that goes by where you have a poor result makes it harder, but its still mathematically possible," he said. "We're miles behind so we need to go into full attack mode. The next two tracks were going to we've been very strong at the last two years, so we won't be giving up without a fight."The wildcards for this weekend's action will be the teammates of the three title contenders; Lowndes, Steven Richards and Mark Skaife.All three have the potential to get involved in the fight at the front of the field and play spoiler to the title fighters.Lowndes finished second in Bahrain - the first one-two finish for Team Vodafone - and finished fifth at Symmons last year.Winterbottom's partner Richards was second in this round in 2007 and has had good speed this year.Skaife has had a disappointing season but with plans to hang up his helmet after Oran Park he is looking to go out on a high. And has a part-owner of HRT he will do whatever he can to get Tander back in the fight.It has been an intense competition this year and the fight will only get hotter at Symmons Plains.  V8 Supercar Top Ten1. Jamie Whincup, Team Vodafone (Ford), 2916 pointsThe 25-year-old has been in the best form of his career this year. He has been both fast and consistent all season long. He is 187 points ahead of the field despite missing all three races at New Zealand when he was taken out by a rival car in qualifying. 2. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing, 2729The fastest man for most of the season but has been a off the pace lately. He hasn't been off by much but in this game, you can't afford to be off your best at all. At one stage he looked like the favourite but will need to rediscover his magic and hope for a mistake (or two) from Whincup. 3. Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, 2624The defending champion has had an up-and-down season trying to settle into his new home at HRT. It is a sign of his strength that he has been able to turn the team back into a force again after several disappointing seasons. 4. Craig Lowndes, Team Vodafone (Ford), 2367It may sound hard to believe but V8 Supercars most popular driver has flown under the radar this year. Whincup's performances have put him in the shade. Lowndes has relied on his experience instead of speed but he looked on-form in Bahrain. 5. Steven Richards, Ford Performance Racing, 2178It's been a funny old season for Richo. He has been quick (winning the round in Darwin) but has been on the edge of title fight. He finished second at Symmons Plains last year so could add to his win tally this weekend. 6. Will Davison, Dick Johnson Racing (Ford), 2153A future star of the series. He has dragged Dick Johnson's famous team back from the brink with a round win at Eastern Creek and consistent pace the rest of the year. A serious contender for the win if he brings his A-game. 7. James Courtney, Stone Brothers Racing (Ford), 2136Still something of an enigma of the sport. No-one doubts his speed but he had been unable to translate that into regular wins. SBR isn't the same unit it was during its title-winning days but still has the potential. 8. Rick Kelly, HSV Dealer Team, 2046The former champion has endured a difficult season trying to lead a re-structured Dealer Team. With several key members of the team moving to HRT (including Tander) the team has slipped off the pace. Still Kelly's speed and consistency has kept in touch. 9. Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing (Holden), 1908One of the biggest surprises of the year. The Enforcer has been rejuvenated with his return to Holden. The 2005 champion has unlocked the potential of the Paul Morris-owned team and turned it into a serious player. 10. Steven Johnson, Dick Johnson Racing (Ford), 1837Despite being over-shadowed by Davison Junior Johnson has still shown plenty of ability this year. Although he hasn't looked like winning a race he has been able to put his experience to good use to stay consistent. 

As I watched the television screen and saw one of the Team Vodafone Falcons slap the wall I was thinking the worst. I wondering how bad the car was, if it would upset our race plans, and if Jamie was ok. The problem was I couldn't see the number and I was thinking the worst. Then I realized it was the second car, with Fabrizio Giovanardi, and it was a big relief. At the same time, I felt sad for Fabrizio. Before qualifying I tried to spend a bit of time with both our team mates to give them an idea on where to carry more speed, how to use the brakes a bit less and let the car do more work to improve their speed. Over Skyline was an area we had talked about. So . . . hmmm, I'm not sure how I feel about what went wrong. Actually, Fabrizio and Marc Hynes have had a bad run all week, interrrupted with some mechanical issues with their car. And they managed to hit a bird yesterday in practice which made a big mess of the windscreen. For us, it was a great result in qualifying. Jamie is happy with the car, he's only doing minimal laps, and still coming out third shows we're on track and that makes us feel pretty confident. I think the top-10 shootout later today is going to be really interesting. We haven't had one of the old-style one-lap efforts for a long time and that could shake things up a bit. For Jamie it will be great experience. I know I always enjoyed the challenge of the Top 10 runs. But he 's been arond long enough to know that pole position around Bathurst is not the ultimate objective. Actually, I'll be happy if he finishes up sixth. That's where we started the last two years and it's worked out pretty well for us. If we are in the top two rows I'll be happy but it really doesn't matter so long as we do the top 10 with a complete, straight car after qualifying. Then we can get on to changing the car to race spec for Sunday. I only did eight or nine laps yesterday but I'm comfortable in the car. It's responding well. I got into a rhythm fairly quickly and the car is not doing anything ugly or surprising anywhere. It flows well across the top of the mountain which is important. That's where I get great confidence. Looking at the qualifying times, I'm not really surprised. Frosty was quick last year and I expected him to be quick again, and he got to the top at the end. Murphy and Richards have done a great job. They are probably a little stronger than we expected. The surprising one is Tander because he was quick in the morning but then didn't have the pace at the end of qualifying. I'm sure he would have wanted to be number one. Looking at how things stand, we expected six or eight good car-and- driver combinations this year and that's what we've got. There are probably four to six cars that are potential winners and another eight or 10 which could get onto the podium on Sunday. For me, the plan today is much the same as it's been all week. I'll be up early for the track walk and then we've got a one-hour practice. I'll do the first half and then hand over to Jamie so he can get ready for the shootout.  

Holden Special Vehicles has launched two new models, revealing the ClubSport R8 Tourer and W427 Showcar to the Sydney audience. But there are also a couple of milestones for the brand, celebrating 20 years of the brand and 40 years of the first Australian Gran Turismo Sportivo (GTS).First appearing on a HK Monaro in 1968, the GTS nameplate has been part of the HSV lexicon since its return to the market in 1992 in the form of the 200kW VP GTS and has since been the hero car-line for the high performance car company.To commemorate 40 years of GTS, just 100 specially released models will be built, with black heritage stripes, tyre pressure monitors and a commemorative '40 years of GTS' logo embedded on the headrest, brake calliper, sill plate and rear panel.Priced from $80,170, the 40 years of GTS is only available in Sting Red and Heron White.Meanwhile a new Senator Signature SV08 introduces a new Tremec TR6060 manual gearbox to the range, which will become standard across the HSV line-up later this month.Twenty years on from the SV88, Holden Special Vehicles has released a limited run of 50 HSV Senator Signature SV08s.The luxury SV08 receives exclusive lower paint-outs, sill plates and additional chrome accenting on the side mirrors and door handles, along with 20-inch alloys.  Available in Nitrate (Silver), Sting Red and Voodoo (Blue), production is limited to 20 manual and 30 automatic versions priced from $82,700.HSV has also got its hands on the Holden Sportwagon and created the ClubSport R8 Tourer, HSV’s first wagon since the all-wheel drive 2003 Avalanche.Powered by HSV’s LS3 engine producing 317kW and 550Nm, the manual R8 Tourer is priced from $65,990 which is a $1000 premium over the ClubSport sedan.HSV has also brought to Sydney the W427 showcar finished in the same Panorama Silver as the original Group A SS VL Commodore, aka Walkinshaw. The modern day Walkinshaw 427 is powered by a 7.0-litre V8 engine with 500hp, that’s hand built at  GM’s Performance Build Centre in Detroit. The W427 retails for $155,500.

Holden Special Vehicles has launched two new models, revealing the ClubSport R8 Tourer and W427 Showcar to the Sydney audience. But there are also a couple of milestones for the brand, celebrating 20

The all-white Astra VXR is called the Nurburgring, after the track where it was developed, and comes with a bunch of body bits including white-painted alloys, dark-tinted windows, carbon fibre effect mirrors and B-Pillars, chequered flag body graphics and an interior upgrade including more carbon fibre pieces and a limited-edition build plate. It has the same mechanical package as the regular VXR, with a 177kW turbo engine, six-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel drive, and is priced at $44,990.Globally there will be only 835 cars, reflecting the Nurburgring's 8 minute 35 second lap at the track.Scott Grant says its arrival shows HSV is looking to become more than just V8 Commodores.“For the last two years we've done roughly 200 VXRs a year. We're just starting to spread our wings and talk to a different type of customer,” he said. “I think we're going to need a bit more of that.”In 2007, 81 per cent of VXR buyers did not own or had even driven an HSV. And 68 per cent of them were women.“That hot hatch area is really strong. We want to supplement the loss of demand for some other products, perhaps with four cylinders from overseas, to balance the brand,” he said. 

Holden Special Vehicles announced today that chief executive officer Scott Grant has resigned “effective immediately … to pursue other career opportunities”.

THE next car from Holden Special Vehicles will be a wagon. The coming HSV Tourer is claimed to have better acceleration and a better overallbalance than the car's bestseller, the R8 ClubSport.“It is marginally quicker than the sedan,” HSV managing director Scott Grant says.“You lose nothing in the drive. It's for people who still want the driving characteristic of a HSV, but need the versatility and load-carrying ability of the wagon.”Grant reveals there was internal conflict over the Tourer, and whether HSV should produce a wagon after the relative failure of the last mainstream model in 1998 with the VT and all-wheel-drive Avalanche in 2003.“We've had mixed results, and there was a big debate about whether we would do it. The major positive aspect of the program came when we saw the shape of the Holden wagon. It's something we can really work with.”The HSV Tourer will be on the road in September and, like the Holden Sportwagon, will have a $1000 price premium over the equivalent sedan. That means $65,990 with the same specification as the ClubSport, and leather and 20-inch wheels as options.The Tourer plan comes as HSV looks to protect its future in the face of falling demand for locally made cars and the impact of rising fuel prices on V8 engine sales globally.“We sell about 4000 cars in Australia. With environmental pressures, gas prices and the rest, it will drop to about 3000 a year,” Grant says. “Demand might soften, but it won't ever go away. There is a heartland demand for rear-wheel-drive V8s in this country.”