An Aussie-built Corvette Z06, Only With Flip-Flops

By Curt Dupriez, Contributor Email
Date posted: 01-03-2008


Forget the brutal midrange torque, the threatening exhaust rumble and the undertow from the muscular lime-green bodywork. Forget the near-desperate display of luxury and the polished ride. Because the overwhelming sensation you get behind the wheel of Project 370 is that you're driving a fishbowl. Because everyone's looking at you.

The 2008 Holden HSV GTS is bold and masculine, without an ounce of restraint. This pumped-up Project 370 is the ultimate GTS tuner car, an extrapolation of what the forthcoming 2008 Pontiac G8 can become.

For starry-eyed patriotic Aussies, Project 370 shows just how far the Lucky Country has come in its ability to build world-class performance cars.

Think Corvette ZO6, Only Wearing Flip-Flops
Project 370 is different, even for Australia. This Holden's unique, Verde Ithica pearlescent-green bodywork intrigues you, and then the unfamiliar whine of a supercharger gets your heart racing. And finally the badge on the trunk lid that ordinarily reads "307," signifying the presence of 307 kW (411 horsepower) within this Holden E-Series GTS, instead slyly taunts "370," or some 496 hp.

"I wanted to buy a Lamborghini Murciélago, but then I realized that I really just liked the Verde Ithica color," says John Bailey, a businessman from Sydney with a car collection that includes numerous Mustangs and a veritable fleet of giallo (yellow) Ferraris.

So like so many Australians, Bailey found himself attracted to the new E-Series version of the Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) GTS, a high-performance derivation of the Holden Commodore SS (itself soon to come to the U.S. as the Pontiac G8). The problem is, HSV doesn't do custom cars, regardless of how wide a prospective buyer opens his wallet. But it turns out that Walkinshaw Performance (WP), a tuning company based in Melbourne, will do custom cars. And this is where things get commercially — and politically — interesting.

Ex-racer and automotive magnate Tom Walkinshaw owns the majority shareholding in HSV, Holden's official purveyor of performance models. Walkinshaw also owns WP, although this tuning company is an entirely separate business. Yet the fact that both are under the same corporate umbrella allows WP unprecedented (in Australia at least) power and flexibility in building virtually brand-new, turn-key custom cars for private clients.

How much power and flexibility? Well, Project 370 didn't start life as a GTS at all. In fact, it left the HSV assembly line as HSV's luxurious flagship model, the Senator Signature. And shortly after, in WP's hands, it underwent a sex change.

The Total Makeover Thing
Bailey wanted the GTS's aggressive looks and performance-oriented handling, but with the luxuries of the Senator Signature, HSV's flagship model.

Mechanically, the GTS and Senator Signature models are virtually identical. Both have the GM-engineered 6.0-liter LS2 V8, 6L80E six-speed automatics, AP Racing-derived brakes with four-piston calipers, and a full list of performance items. The difference comes in suspension tuning, wheels, interior trim and bodywork.

The Senator's more elaborate wiring system — required to service its long list of luxury interior features — made it the logical place to begin this project. WP's exclusive accessibility to HSV's parts bin facilitated construction of this unique hybrid, and also made sure it could be built to the same production-line standards as regular HSV models.

By the time the Project 370's LS2 fired in anger, Bailey had invested AU$60,000 (about $50,000 U.S.) in enhancements for the AU$76,990 Senator.

The Power Within
In Australia, everything starts with power, and WP has fitted the LS2 V8 with a Magnuson Magna Charger, a Roots-type supercharger. Although this package is on par with the Corvette Z06's LS7 V8 for outright glory figures with 496 hp, the supercharged 6.0-liter V8 is really about robust midrange power.

Tooling around town, the engine is docile at low revs, but squeeze the loud pedal and the throttle response sharpens as the torque swells to a peak of 545 pound-feet at 4,200 rpm. The result is the kind of force that pins you back in the seat and comes just shy of collapsing your lungs. And then there's more power to come, as the tach needle swings to 6,100 rpm where all 496 horses are in full stride.

To get a clean launch, some deft throttle modulation is required lest the 275/30R20 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A rear tires cry freedom in trying to hurl nearly 4,000 pounds off the mark. Get it right and the Project 370 will nail 60 mph in less than 5 seconds and do the quarter-mile in less than 13 seconds.

The six-speed automatic, though, is merely adequate. It's robust, but has only a workmanlike shift quality and it's easily caught snoozing when in Drive.

Great Southern Land
On this vast sunburned continent of the land Down Under, the roads are often riddled with pimples, potholes and ruts, as if they had been slapped across the landscape to counter the tyranny of distance and little more. And twisty back roads — Australia's rife with them — are no exception.

Project 370 isn't flustered by any of it. The GTS (or any HSV, for that matter) has a polished character on the road, and the suspension has been carefully tuned to strike a balance between responsive handling and a compliant ride that's perfect for Aussie road conditions.

Special WP springs lower the ride height, but the key to the suspension is the use of Delphi's MagnaRide dampers. They allow you to switch from the default Performance mode to a super-taut Track setting, and yet the ride is never brittle. Bumps of any size, shape or ferocity just never seem to unhinge this car, and it keeps its Bridgestones on the pavement.

The E-Series body structure is supremely rigid, and this lends a tangible sense of solidity to the Project 370 that in turn allows the suspension tuning to deftly sort out the most adverse traction and grip issues. As a result, this car's body control is more impressive than you would expect from a car with a wheelbase of 114.8 inches.

Guided Missile
Yet with nearly 4,000 pounds here, Project 370 is not particularly nimble. The GTS prefers to be guided rather than grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown around. It nevertheless copes with the quick directional changes of spirited driving without much fuss.

The steering is really good, with linear though not particularly quick action, and there's reasonable feedback from the 245/35R20 Bridgestone front hoops. And while the weight in the nose dulls steering response a touch and makes your turn into a corner less crisp than you might like, there's still plenty of front-end grip. It's easy to keep the nose tidy, and you can tighten your cornering line with a gentle lift of the throttle.

There's a natural tendency for the chassis to lean on the outside rear wheel, and the rear tires offer so much bite as the car lunges out of corners that you half expect to find puncture marks in the blacktop.

The chassis can be easily driven on the throttle. If you're feeling antisocial, it'll also drift like a champion. The supercharged power is creamy and predictable, and there's nothing to upset the GTS's composure when it hangs out the rear tires.

The AP Racing brakes combine sufficient bite with progressive pedal action, and HSV claims that these four-piston calipers are actually more powerful than the six-pots from the previous-generation Z-Series GTS.

The One and Only
The 2008 Holden HSV GTS might not match the levels of refinement, sophistication and finer engineering prowess of the European super sedans, but that's not the point of this car. Instead it's the ultimate hero car for red-blooded Aussie blokes who wouldn't be seen dead in a bourgeois M5. And Project 370 just cranks up the appeal a few notches.

It's now Bailey's daily driver. "This way I can have the power and impact I want for AU$135,000 [about $118,000], 20 percent of the price of a Murciélago," he smiles.

Of course, American readers shouldn't accept those figures too literally, because you could buy a brand-new Pontiac G8 and modify it in much the same way and get 90 percent of the result for less than $50,000 total.

Project 370 will remain extra-special, though. Bailey had just one iron-clad demand of Walkinshaw Performance as part of the Project 370 deal. And that is exclusivity. "Bailey wanted something unique, and unique it will stay," says WP's Chief Executive Chris Payne. "This is our first GTS in Verde Ithica green, and it will be the company's last."

Maloo: It's Australian for Bloody Fast, Mate!

By Dean Evans, Contributor Email
Date posted: 12-26-2007


You might want to delay that trip to Home Depot, because the 2007 Holden HSV Maloo R8 rewrites everything you know about pickups. This is an Australian ute, and it's really a load of fun.

It seems GM is turning all Australian these days. It started in 2004 when the Australian-built Holden Monaro became the Pontiac GTO. Now the Holden Commodore SS is headed to America to become the 2008 Pontiac G8. There's yet another Holden on the way, as Pontiac has let us know that the ute version of the Commodore will become the division's own updated version of the Chevrolet El Camino.

Now that there are so many Holdens sneaking into the U.S., we thought you might like to know that there are some pretty fast Holdens to choose from. Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) has been tuning, tweaking and turning Holdens into barbie-hot HSV models for 20 years. The Maloo is a hotter version of the Commodore-based ute, with a pumped and pimped body, engine, suspension and brakes.

20 Years and Counting
Born in 1987 in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton, HSV has grown to become the premier Aussie performance brand. HSV vehicles start at the exit gate of the nearby Holden production line, where they're diverted into the modest confines of a factory consisting not of robots and mechanized assembly lines, but instead human hands and four-post hoists. HSV initially produced only six vehicles each day, but now it produces five times that figure, around 4,700 annually.

Though the Clubsport R8 is the king of HSV, the Maloo — an aboriginal word for "storm" or "thunder" — is not far behind. With a 17-year history, the Maloo ute is known for delivering the Clubbie's high-performance hardware in a package that is both lighter and cheaper.

Undercutting its sedan sibling by AU$2,500, the Maloo is the cheapest way into an HSV V8; meaning its target market isn't tradesmen, but instead the keenly jingoistic Aussie speed buffs who embody HSV's slogan of "I just want one." And instead of concrete and wood, HSV expects buyers of the Maloo to load it up with jet skis, KTM motocross racers or Cannondale mountain bikes. A modest 1,100-pound payload limit tells you this tray is really for play, not work.

Under the Bonnet — er, Hood
Maloo runs the same General Motors-designed 6.0-liter LS2 V8 as the Corvette C6. Minor ECU and exhaust changes reap 412 horsepower from this locally built example, and the Maloo's power-to-weight ratio is not far off the Vette.

And if the lack of a trunk over the rear tires makes you think this ute looks like a recipe for drift days, you're right. Big 275/35R19 rear tires riding on a link-type independent rear suspension plus a limited-slip differential deliver a surprising amount of grip, something you can tell when the Maloo gets off the line quickly enough to reach 60 mph in 5.0 seconds and then get to the quarter-mile in a time that's close to the 12-second range.

HSV also likes to point out that this VE version of the Maloo is coupelike in style as well as performance. A thick B-pillar with a sail panel to strengthen the link between the cab and the cargo bed emulates a coupe's profile.

What Makes a Maloo?
Apart from the GM LS2 V8 engine (ordinary Commodore utes feature a 362-hp L76 V8), the Maloo ute has bodywork bulges, flares and scoops in all the right areas and even some wrong ones.

One is the rear tonneau cover over the cargo bed ("tray cover" in the local parlance) that chooses form over function with a prominent double bubble in the surface. Rear vision suffers as a result, so thankfully HSV fits rear parking sensors, a first in ute equipment features. The swing-down tailgate is also 10 percent lighter — around 9 pounds — since it's made from a sheet-molded SMC plastic.

The Maloo's unique exterior treatment is completed with a new nose, sculpted rocker-sill skirts and special taillights, along with colors as wild (and vague in description) as Atomic, Crunch, K-pow and Morpheus.

Under the skin, stiffer spring rates and larger-diameter brakes with four-piston calipers front and rear ensure the Maloo R8 covers all the bases. Or should that be stumps?

Inside, HSV instrument faces and a trio of voltage, oil temp and pressure gauges in the center stack are the main points of difference. Not that there's a shortage of specialized gear, since the Maloo offers a trip computer with digital speedo, dual-zone climate control and a 6.5-inch multifunction screen showing stereo and fan controls, plus Bluetooth phone compatibility.

Smoke 'Em if You Got 'Em
Once you're in the cab of the Maloo, you get the impression that Australians must be giants. Everything is slightly oversized, from the seats and steering wheel to the storage bins. Even the switchgear has been apparently designed for the fingers of the working man. But you forget all this as soon as you twist the ignition key and the V8 rumbles into life.

It's not as vocal as you'd hope because Aussie laws are meant to ensure that no koalas are awakened by chance, yet the engine note is deep and, well, thunderous. Think Corvette C6 with a cork hat and a case of VB beer in the back. (That's the beer Aussies really drink.)

This image is hardly coincidental, as the Maloo has an immense squirt on tap, just like the Corvette. Nail the gas and the rear end squats like a constipated terrier on a front lawn as the tires dig into the road. The clutch and shift lever both need a manly shove, but even the six-speed automatic is just as appealing thanks to sequential shift mode with a computerized throttle blip for quicker downshifts.

The LS2 V8's 406 pound-feet of torque does wonders for acceleration, and you can wind out the engine beyond 70 mph in 2nd gear without hitting the rev limiter at 6,500 rpm. The short sidewalls of the 19-inch tires can shake your bones on some coarse roads, but that's because the ute's springs are almost 50 percent stiffer than those of the Commodore sedan. The Maloo turns into corners very well, but you can tell that there's a lot of weight being tossed around.

Hold down the small ESP button in front of the shift lever and take care. While the handling balance is tailored toward mild, user-friendly understeer, provoke this ute and the tail end swings like Austin Powers. The long wheelbase, lots of steering lock and plenty of torque on tap are perfect for any D1-style drift event, so it's not uncommon to see a Maloo's rear tires engulfed in tire smoke.

Big 14.4-inch front discs offer the kind of stopping power you'd damn well hope for in a car this big, and the feel through the pedal is good, though the action is a bit heavy — but nothing out of character there.

Guinness Record-Holder
HSV runs one of the 17 teams entered in the Australian V8 Supercar championship, and it wrapped up back-to-back titles in December 2007 when Garth Tander clinched a nail-biter.

Holden's five-time Touring Car champ Mark Skaife also set another milestone with the Maloo in 2006 with a Guinness World Record for the fastest production standard utility or pickup truck with a speed of 169.65 mph, smashing the previous record of 154 mph by a Dodge Ram SRT-10.

And like any good NASCAR team, HSV's racing success is accompanied by successful sales of general merchandise, as it's marketed more than AU$110 million worth of gear over the last 20 years. A scan of the current Holden Lion's Den catalog includes everything HSV-branded, including women's swimsuits, Puma track shoes, commemorative plates, shot glasses and baby clothes.

Buy Now, Pay Dearly?
Pricing is HSV's only concern for the future of cars like the 2007 Holden HSV Maloo R8 Ute in the U.S., as the Aussie dollar has strengthened 10 percent against the American greenback.

Currently, the straight conversion into U.S. dollars means the Maloo sells for $52,970 with its six-speed manual transmission, with the automatic a $1,750 option. The Maloo R8's only option is a $3,300 Performance Pack, which adds leather seats and 20-inch rollers.

If America takes to the Pontiac G8 in sedan, wagon and ute forms, there just might be a niche for the HSV Maloo. Here's hoping. It's literally a load of fun.