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HSV Clubsport R8 E Series

To all the regular daily readers who come back everyday to get the latest car news and car advice, you should be well aware that I am not much of a Holden fan. No I am not exactly a Ford fan either. So, everyone take a deep breath as this may come as a big surprise to you all. I have, officially, taken a liking to the new VE or E series range from Holden Special Vehicles (HSV). So I want to go over each vehicle on offer in the next few days, and which better car to start with than the HSV Clubsport R8.

Alborz Fallah

22:2822 August 2006

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Okay so it looks really nice, I don't know if that is mainly a credit to Holden with the new VE series or HSV with the bodykit and the 19" rims. The wheels at the front are 19"x8" running 245/40 R19 98Y tyres while the rear ones are 19"x8.5" running 275/35 R19 96Y tyres. If you don't know what that means, lets just say, they are rather big and thick, not to mention expensive.

So given its looks, you'd expect whatever sits beneath that bonnet to have some serious guts. The all new LS2 6.0 litre Generation 4 V8 engine is what powers the clubsport R8, HSV puts the figures at an almighty 307kW @ 6000rpm and 550Nm of torque @ 4400rpm. For the business types and those who are lazy, the Clubsport comes with a choice of a new 6-speed sequential auto transmission, but for the rest of us who dream about this car, the obvious option of a new optimised 6-speed manual transmission is the way togo.

I can bombard you with lots of technical information, but you can find all of that here. Nonetheless other things worth noting about the car are its brakes. HSV claims that in dry conditions, only 36 metres is the distance required to stop from a speed of 100km/h. Front brakes boast 365mm x 32mm ventilated and grooved discs, with sports-styled 4 piston calipers in Holden Racing Team red with silver logo. Wider rear tyres combine with a bigger rear brake – 350mm x 26mm ventilated and grooved discs and 4 piston rear calipers. Not bad!

However, the best parts of the new HSV E Series Clubsport R8 aren't all on the outside, the new redesigned centre console looks fantastic with three gauges consisting of an oil temprature, pressure and battery voltage guage. Last few years a great deal of criticism has gone HSVs way for producing tacky and cheap interiors, and whilst I haven't exactly sat in the new R8, from all the interior photos, I am rather impressed!

But all that aside, there is one thing that cought my eye about the new HSV Clubsport R8, and as a fan of 4 cylinder turbos, it seems that the days of turbo fours, heck even turbo sixes (Ford XR-6 Turbo) beating an HSV from 0 to 100 km/hr are over. The HSV Clubsport R8 E Series gets to 100 in.... wait for it... 0-100 km/hr in 4.96 seconds for the manual and 5.05 for the auto. My god, to give you so perspective on how fast that is, a brand new 2006 model BMW M3 that costs $140,000 will get from 0-100 in 5.2 seconds. So there you have it folks. HSV have made a car faster than an M3! Bring it on!
For more details about the HSV Clubsport R8 click here