Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S Edition: Blown Away

By Jay Williams - 13/February/2009

Geneva, Switzerland — Who needs a chiropractor when you can get a spine-smashing, kidney-punching, Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S Edition that packs a 418kW (560hp) Supercharged LS3 V8?

Not me.

Vauxhall has seen the forced induction light, giving the more than powerful VXR8 sports sedan's 6.2-litre V8 a fair rev up.

Basically a rebadged HSV Clubsport, the Vauxhall VXR8 would probably blow every single Australia model HSV (except the W427) out of the water.

It's very upsetting to know our home-grown Holden performance tuner is being outgunned by the Brits. 

HSV, pull yer finger out and give us a supercharged beast!

And honestly, British drivers have to pay massive taxes on cars with large engines that belch out CO2 like this one - wouldn't it seem more fitting to have something like this offered in Australia??

It's called the damn Bathurst edition!! 

Is it just me or is this completely absurd? Brockie wouldn't be happy about the situation, I can tell you.

FPV has the turbocharged F6 that demolishes pretty much everything in its path, so when will HSV get serious and treat its customers with due respect by creating a vehicle like this Vauxhall?

Okay, personal grievances out of the way, how does this rebadged HSV pump out 400+ kilowatts?

Simple - by engineering a Walkinshaw Performance 122 supercharger with intercooler that cranks up the standard car's 321 kilowatts (431hp) to a staggering 418 kilowatts (560hp). 

It's actually not that simple with a fair bit of extra plumbing and engine tweaking involved.

But if this car was a breakfast, it would be cornflakes on toast. Mad.

Not only does the Walkinshaw supercharger boost overall power, but also gives some hefty numbers in the torque department, standard output was550Nm only to be hiked by 165Nm to a top of 715Nm. 

So let's recap: HSV's fastest and most powerful model every built, the W427 "supercar", belts out 375kW and 640Nm. But this British interloper eclipses both those targets with 418kW and 715Nm.

Adding insult to injury, Vauxhall reckons that it could have achieved even further increased power outputs by increasing the supercharger boost - but someone in the Walkinshaw lab came to their senses and thought for drivability and overall durability, thecompany would keep it reasonable to ensure the engine doesn't explore after a few drives. 

But having said that, Vauxhall hasn't left drivers in the dark by simply throw in a whole sh*t load of forced induction power without upgrading the powertrain to match.

High-flow fuel injectors and a separate cold air intake which allow the Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S Edition to drink more fuel and make more power.

A Walkinshaw-developed ECU map and a large capacity intercooler are other things that will make UK drivers happy.

Now with all this added power the Vauxhall had to think of a way to transfer all of this to the road and keep it there.

How did they do this?

First by modifying the transmission and adding a high-torque capacity clutch to deal with the super car levels of torque

Then they add larger AP-racing six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers, stiffer height-adjustable springs, and Walkinshaw-developed coil-over dampers that have 15 separate valve settings and independent corner adjustment . Sot it's pretty much tailor-made forthe track enthusiast.

All this added gear will no doubt give the Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S Edition improved handling over its HSV donor car.

In addition to all this there is one option available: a stainless steel bi-modal exhaust at the cost of £1600 that adds another 7kW and features two noise settings. 

Street mode is pretty loud (92dbA) and in optimum track mode it is effing loud (102dbA).

Now if you were wondering what one of these puppies would set you back and you live in the UK, well, you're looking at £44,995 (A$100,000) for the supercharged Bathurst S and £37,995 (A$85,000) for thenaturally aspirated Bathurst model.

Related Links:
- HSV Limited Editions: Senator & GTS (2008)
- HSV GTS vs FPV GT-P (Road Test)
- HSV R8 ClubSport Tourer (2008)
- HSV W427 (2008)
- HSV Maloo Ute (Road Test)
- HSV Clubsport R8 (Road Test)
- HSV Maloo (2007)
- HSV Grange (Road Test)
- HSV Senator vs FPV Force6 (Road Test)
- HSV E-Series (2007)
- Vauxhall VXR8 Supercharged (2007)