Friday, June 20, 2008

HSV W427. The 500hp Australian BEAST.

Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) today announced the seven liter W427 program.

Tom Walkinshaw, who has been involved with making a few fast cars in the past, confirmed the price of the W427 will be $AUS150,000, plus on road costs. HSV will build up to 427 W427s, with vehicles being built to order. These will surely become collectors items up there with the SLR5000, VK Group A Brock, GTR XU-1 etc etc etc.

Each New Zealand and Australian HSV Dealer (64 in total) will be allocated one W427, as long as they have a firm retail order. Remaining W427s will be allocated to dealers based on 2007 sales figures.

Tom Walkinshaw has confirmed the final power output figure for the HSV W427. It will be 375kW (502.88HP) and 640NM of torque.

The Holden Special Vehicles W427 will go on sale in August. Looking forward to seeing what the 0-62MPH and 1/4 mile will be. I am guessing 4.3-4.5 to 62mph (100kph) and 12.8-13.0 for the 1/4.


The mighty Powertrain
- 7.0 Litre, LS7 Engine with HSV specific calibration
- Putting out 502.88 HP (375kw) @ 6500rpm & 640Nm @ 5000rpm
- Over radiator style cold air induction system – with high flow air filter.
- Dry sump lubrication system with 2 stage pump.
- Hand fabricated aluminium oil reservoir, with baffles for high G loading.
- Front mount, 13 row engine oil cooler
- Ceramic coated, high flow 4 into 1 extractors
- High flow catalytic converters and exhaust system (3” into 2 ¾”)
- Active bi-modal rear mufflers
- Exhaust back pressure management
- Improved noise quality
- High strength limited slip differential
- New high strength 6 speed manual gear box (TR6060)
- GMPT LS7 Clutch with new actuator and pedal assembly for high clamp loads

Save up your gas money folks.

Monday, June 09, 2008

2009 Cadillac CTS-V


It seems that the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V is going to be a tire smoking power house. Its 6.2-liter supercharged V8 is expected to produce 556 horsepower at 6,100rpm and 551 pound-feet of torque at 3,800rpm. Cadillac claims the CTS-V sedan will go from 0-to-60mph in just 3.9 seconds and through the quarter mile in 12 seconds flat. Now that my friends is FAST.

Top speed when equipped with the six-speed automatic transmission is limited to 175mph. Get the six-speed manual and you’re free to run all the way to 191mph. Autobahn type situation on our hands courtesy of Detroit.

Even with gas at about $5 per gallon, if it is as economical as it's cousin the Corvette ZO6 then this may well be the candidate for my next vehicle.