My other V8...

[Ceveman73]

2009 HSV R8 Clubsport
6.2L LS3 V8 with 500 bhp/500 lb/ft
Lots of chassis and suspension mods
Sounds like no other!

[535dboy]

Sounds interesting but no pics?

[Ceveman73]

Should work now?

[chunky79]

Nope, still no worky Mart.

[535dboy]

Pics work ok now.

[chunky79]

Thought you had put these up before Mart?
You got a pic of the thug trying to steal it then!
They are mean bad ass cars.

[535dboy]

Very nice.

[Ceveman73]

Thought you had put these up before Mart?
You got a pic of the thug trying to steal it then!
They are mean bad ass cars.

I must be getting old, I had completely forgotten!

Yeah you spotted the 'yoof' too then? Don't worry he's harmless.

[Hedgehog Dodger]

Is this the Bathurst model? My mate really wants one of these.

[Ceveman73]

Yes and no. I've spent over £12k on mods making the car above and beyond the spec of the Bathurst model, apart from the supercharger on the Bathurst S. Mine is actually for sale if he's interested. 14k miles and completely mint.

Mart.

[Mr V10]

[Noyjatat]

Forget the Bathurst S see if he can find a Wortec carbon edition one. They squeezed 600 bhpish out of theirs. Think it only came in black with some small orange highlights around the car.

[adsgreen]

Ah that takes me back - I had a VXR8 too.

Nice cars and once you get past the badge damn good fun. Suspension (even when upgraded) is well... "old school" and no getting away from the weight of the beast but there's nothing wrong with that. Makes it for a sledgehammer to drive rather than a european scalpel. Never had a car quite like it when you could go up to any roundabout and think "hmm... just how sideways should I take this?". You can get (and importantly recover) some insane sideways angles. Using one hand. In ski gloves. Whilst talking on the phone (handsfree of course).

There is something really charming that says "screw you technology" (push rods, 2 valves...) and just goes with the approach of "Bigger Engine. More power. GRRRR". I always liked the way the whole car shock when you started it up. Does makes for very lazy progress... something like 90% Peak torque from under 2k rpm. On long journeys its very comfortable (probably a bit softly sprung) with the engine ticking over under 2k rpm - I drove to scotland and back in a day and actually felt fine.

Also never had any bad attention in it. Apart from the comments of "Is that the new Vectra?" "Does it... Look like... A <beep> Vectra... to You?"

The great thing about the walkingshaw supercharger upgrade is that it was factory approved and warranty friendly and half the price of the complex things you need on more highly strung engines.

Practical too... MASSIVE room and boot but no fold down seats was a pita.

<sigh> a great car imo and when released an absolute bargin. I was actually about to buy a new RS4 at the time and was about to put pen to paper. However my cousin who at the time worked for VXR dept said "come and have a play with this - I think you'll like it.". I shouldn't have liked it... gearchange heavy (IIRC it's from a truck - actually I driven trucks with lighter gearboxes... you change gear from the shoulder in the vxr8... not the wrist!), slow engine response, lots of roll... but my word... I was absolutely proper laughing out loud. The real clincher for me was that whilst like for like the VXr8 doesn't quite match the RS4 on all points it's about 90-95% of the the way there. But I got a brand new sparkly zero miles 420+ bhp 6litre monster for 25k compared to the 55k+ I was looking at for the RS4.

[adsgreen]

The engine is proper bullet proof - plenty cars running 800hp+ and even at 1000bhp doesn't seem to worry it.
No carbon or DRC problems either

[Ceveman73]

Yep, the soft chassis and suspension is the weak point, and that's where most of the £12k went on. It has had all the suspension bushes replaced with Thicker ARBs, poly bushes, under body chassis braces, tunnel brace, strut brace and coilovers. Boy what a difference! No more squishiness in the rear sub frame, much more feel and better turn in, and generally feels much sharper.

Not had much interest on the used market, so if she stays there's nothing for it but supercharger, cams and forging...

Let's see what happens - I will let fate decide on its destiny

Mart.