d motorofficial f motor_mag^65
NE OF the most difficult
decisions anyone must make is
when to retire. Whether you’re
an elite sportsperson facing the
prospect of ever declining skills
and athleticism or John or Jane
Smith simply working out how
long you need to keep toiling in
order to make the finances last,
knowing the right time to call it
quits is a tricky balancing act.
Of course, not everyone has
the luxury of choosing their own
terms. Just as many workers
in the Australian automotive industry have been
required to transition their skills into other areas or
face irrelevance, HSV has been forced into a similar
upheaval. For 30 years its business has been focused
on extracting the most from the Holden Commodore
of the day, but the end of local manufacturing has
changed the question from “What do we do to the
next Commodore?” to “What do we do next?”
You can read about those plans in detail on page 50,
but this story is about what’s been – a final drive in the
culmination of everything learned from three decades
of making rear-wheel drive sports sedans.
So much of the press and coverage
regarding HSV’s final offering has been
centred on the W1 and deservedly so, for
as an engineering project it’s one of the
biggest the company has ever undertaken.
But in all the hoopla surrounding the
474kW LS9-engined monster the regular
GTSR has been somewhat forgotten,
which is a shame. Not only is it more than
a GTS with an angry face and flash new
colours, it’s – whisper it – arguably a more
suitable, well-rounded car than its track-
focused big brother for the vast majority
of people. Unlike the sold-out W1, you’ll
also still be able to buy one as you read
this, albeit for only a short while longer.
This tale starts at the racetrack. It’s an
appropriate venue to begin as not only is
the HSV story inexorably intertwined with racing, it’s
also where it began. It may not have been badged as
such, but the VL SS Group A Walkinshaw was the first
product from Holden’s new hot-shop following the
bitter and public split with Peter Brock.
The wild aero kit it wore was not the result of
an over-enthusiastic after-work drinks session,
but the by-product of wind-tunnel testing aimed
at developing downforce-producing wings to battle
homologation specials like the Ford Sierra Cosworth
RS500 and Nissan Skyline GT-R.
Sandown Raceway was a relatively happy hunting
ground for the Walkinshaw, Larry Perkins scoring
a brace of second places in 1988 and 1989 before
breaking through with victory in 1992 and the GTSR
feels equally at home. Unkindly, but accurately,
described by some as “two drag strips connected by a
couple of squiggles”, Sandown plays to the big HSV’s
strengths – big power and big brakes. There may only
O
Long-time MOTOR
readers will know
it hasn’t always
been the case, but
recent HSVs have
been one of very few
production cars that
will happily accept a
full day’s track work
(left); GTSR stalked
by its big brother, the
474kW LS9-engined
W1 (far left); Sandown
plays to the big HSV’s
strengths (below)