Holden's in-house tuner Holden Special Vehicles has taken the Corvette Z06's 505-horsepower 7.0 liter V-8, fitted it with a dry-sump lubrication system, added Tremec's beefy TR6060 six-speed manual and dropped it into the Commodore, creating the HSV W427. According to HSV managing director Scott Grant, the W427, which was unveiled at this week's Melbourne Motor Show, is the fastest street-legal car ever produced in Australia.
There's more to the W427 than the engine, though. Rolling on 20-inch wheels, it's been fitted with a high-strength limited slip differential, super-stiff suspension, six-piston caliper front brakes with monster 14.9-inch discs, Magnetic Ride Control, and a two-mode active exhaust. It's not the Corvette Z06, but it's pretty damn close.
HSV also added some aggression to the bodywork -- an exclusive front fascia, side skirts, giant fender sills, and a trunklid spoiler -- to ensure that nobody mistakes it for a regular Commodore. Inside, there's a red leather interior with W427 embroideries on the seats
It's not the first time someone has put the Z06 into a Commodore -- Melbourne tuning shop Corsa Special Vehicles did just that last year -- but it is the first time one will be available directly from Holden, albeit in highly limited numbers and likely at astronomic prices. The first W427s will be going into production sometime around July and arriving in dealer showrooms in the third quarter. Memo to Pontiac's marketing squad: time to come up with another trim level.
http://www.motortrend.com/features/a...olden_hsv_w427
Vauxhall W427 may come with Corvette LS7 engine
Vauxhall may be getting its own version of the LS7-powered Holden Special Vehicles W427 (pictured) that was unveiled in late February at the Melbourne Motor Show, reports Auto Express. According to the report, the Vauxhall W427 will be positioned directly against German super-sedans like the Audi RS6, BMW M5, and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG with a price tag of about 55,000 pounds ($108,000). It is expected to arrive in September.
The British model is expected to have its own suspension settings that are better suited for the UK's roads and may not receive the Magnetic Ride Suspension that comes on the Aussie car. Auto Express claims that the Vauxhall W427 will make 570 horsepower and 472 lb-ft of torque, but the horsepower figure they're estimating for the car seems far too high for the 7.0-liter V-8 LS7 engine.
Vauxhall already offers Aussie power in the form of the LS3-powered VXR, known to us as the Pontiac G8 GXP. Perhaps an LS7-powered G8 is somewhere in the cards?
http://wot.motortrend.com/6240236/au...ine/index.html
Possibilities for G8 = possibilities for Camaro
