24-HOUR BINGE
Holden turns its beautiful Monaro into a 450 kW lap dancer
The prediction is impressive, 'It should lap Bathurst about as fast as a V8 Supercar,' says Holden Motorsport manager, John Steveson. He's talking about Holden's bright-yellow bid to win ProCar's 24-hour endurance race in November.

The Monaro's tube-steel cage and chassis is being prepared by Gary Rogers Motorsport, and in late September the chassis and drivetrain cam together. Underneath, the gear in neither stork nor V8 Supercar, but a unique mix of custom fabricated double A-arm independent rear suspension and fatso 18 x 13-inch rear wheels tucked nicely under the tubbed guards.

'We wanted to use a solid rear axle sand use our V8 Supercar knowledge to set up the handling, but the race regs required and IRS,' explains Stevenson, sounding not the least bit disappointed. 'And we couldn't fit the 13-inch wide rear wheels on the standard suspension.'

Power? 'Its 427 cubic inch V8 [7 litres] is producing around 450 kW in endurance tune. The power is about the same as a V8 Supercar,' claimed Stevenson. This Monaro also wears wider and taller rubber and will corner harder. The huge rear wheels are matched up front by 18 x 11-inch alloys. A Supercar wears 17 x 11-inch wheels.

The cost of rubber to lap Bathurst for 24-hours amounts to as much as $80,000. Building the Monaro cost between $300,000 and $400,000, plus testing, crew and the cost of four top-name drivers. Holden is in for an expensive day's drive. - TODD HALLENBECK

IT'S SHOWTIME
HSV's building something big for Sydney Motorshow
So, new boy FPV wants to play in HSV's sandbox. Come the Sydney Motorshow, where Ford's new high-performance division - Ford Performance Vehicles - will reveal the new 300+ kW Falcon GT, HSV will be waiting with something that is much bigger.

HSV refuses to confirm details, but the secret project entails pushing the cubic capacity of an LS1 V8 out to between 6.6 and 7.0 litres.

A year after Holden revealed the stunning Monaro at the Sydney Motorshow, HSV will use the two-door body shell as the big engine's life-support system. Neil Simpson, who styled the 2001 HRTE Maloo, is belvieved to have also styled the coupe's wild bodykit. It's not known whether HSV have used a production LS1 with 99 mm cylinders (6.6 litre capacity) or a special GM Motorsport block with off-set 101.6 mm cylinders (7.0 lite capacity).

The big-cube engine will be built in-house by HSV using US and locally sourced components. The project is likely to produce close to 400 kW. The torque curve will turn lunar and land around 670 Nm. - TODD HALLENBECK

V8 'Torana' on Holden's wish list for near future
The concept of Audi's V8-powered S4 sedan appeals to Holden chief Peter Hanenberger's revhead instincts. In fact, he's thought about Holden building a car very similar to the Audi. But as yet, nothing has been drawn on paper.

"I can only discuss this philosophically at this time, but there is some strategising and understanding of a possibility of a small V-car. This is something that is definitely on our list and is high on our list," he admitted during a recent interview.

"Torana - the name - does it have enough premium on it?" he asks. "The small-car-big-engine package would be superb because there is a huge market out there for mid-sized cars with sixes. Very few have V8s, and Audi is one with the A4. We have the new V6 engine (HFV6 due in late 2003) and of course the V8 is relatively small physically but powerful." - TODD HALLENBECK