More power for Australia's fastest car

[Express]

More power for Australia's fastest car


Holden's performance arm HSV is readying upgrades to its sledgehammer GTS sedan.

June 25 2015 - 3:28PM
Sam Hall



Big bang: HSV is set to raise the power stakes on its flagship GTS. Photo: Supplied


Australia's fastest, most powerful homegrown car is likely to go out with an even bigger bang when production ends in 2017.

Fairfax Media has learned that Holden's performance arm, HSV (Holden Special Vehicles), is developing power upgrades for its flagship GTS sedan to coincide with the closure of Holden's Australian manufacturing operations. A company source has hinted the Melbourne-based tuner will raise outputs of the current 430kW/740Nm supercharged V8 in a move that would ensure it remains the most powerful production vehicle ever built in the country.

The upgrade would likely lower the GTS' 0-100km/h time to below four seconds; down from a current best time of 4.1 seconds during Drive testing.

"We are still looking to see what can be done with the GTS," the source said.

"You get a bunch of revhead engineers together in one room and that's what happens. You can be assured that they're working on something."

The GTS has been a huge hit for HSV in Australia, with more than 2000 vehicles sold since the Gen-F variant launched in 2013. While HSV has vowed to continue building performance models after Holden's manufacturing closure, the GTS looms as the last of the company's traditional V8 products, along with the rest of the Gen-F range.

The source said there have been no major reliability issues reported with current 6.2-litre LSA engine's outputs, and was adamant more power could be extracted without affecting long-term durability.

HSV's last-hurrah GTS is likely to coincide with a new 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8 finding its way into the final update of Holden's SS Commodore. Up from the current 270kW to more than 300kW.

As reported by Drive in May, the Series II VF Commodore is set to be released this later this year with an uprated engine along with modest styling and cosmetic revisions. It is also understood that ute and wagon variants will also be lightly updated at the rear – bringing the first major change to those models since the VE Commodore was launched in 2006.

Changes to the SS Commodore will likely provoke HSV to leverage power outputs on its entry-level 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8 models in a bid to hold a clear performance buffer over its Holden donor cars. That means more powerful versions of the Clubsport, Maloo, Senator and Grange, ensuring that Holden's final lineage of homegrown V8s will be the fastest in history.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/m...25-ghx89e.html