Auto shifter into sport mode, ease off the brake, right Blundstone to the floor and… WOOOOOF!
Yes, HSV’s fourth-gen LS3 has the grunt to turn even the most stubborn of non-believers into cubic inch converts. It’s one hell of a mill.
And if you get a chance to stretch it out behind the wheel of the Clubsport R8, it will take more than an hour or two to get the silly grin off your face.
Guaranteed.
But let’s back things up a little.
Let’s say your loyalties are neither ‘rusted-on Holden’ nor ‘rusted-on Ford’. And let’s say you’ve just been called by some jackass from a radio station who tells you you’ve won a car. Not only that, but you’ve got a choice between two.
Now here’s the thing. The choice you’ve got is between HSV’s Clubsport R8 and Ford’s FPV GT. Both slavering beasts, both superbly responsive V8s, and both the duck’s nuts down at the footy club.
So, c’mon, which is it going to be? Which one will have you tingling in anticipation when the keys are handed over? Which will have you dreaming about a full-throttle run, V8 bellowing at the redline, rushing to the horizon along some long and lonely freedom road?
For these two iconic machines this is the test for both the cars and their marketing. Which would you choose?
We had the 2009 Clubsport R8, HSV’s much loved “Clubby” for a week. In the showroom, it is lined up squarely against FPV’s seriously quick and seriously stylish GT.
But where Ford’s GT crown has slipped a little in latter decades, the R8 Clubsport has become now, it can fairly be said, the stuff of legend. And that puts it in rarefied air among Aussie performance cars.
So let’s untangle the legend.
Clubsport lineage
The Clubsport is HSV’s volume seller. It shares little in common with the original bare bones ‘Clubsport’ that started the revolution all those years ago.
The original VN Commodore-based Clubsport was lighter on the luxuries and featured Holden’s own cast iron push-rod 5.0-litre V8, tweaked by HSV. It produced a ‘mousily’ (by today’s standards) 180kW and 400Nm, driving through a four-speed auto or five-speed manual gearbox.
It was, as the name suggested, a Clubsport in the true meaning of the word. It was basic, not too expensive, built for performance, built to handle better and built to be enjoyed at the odd club track day.
The species has since evolved. Nine major model changes later and we have the current E-Series Clubsport. Gone is the agricultural rawness and basic spec. In its place is a seriously powerful, well-equipped and – yes – cosseting performance sedan.
It now sits somewhere between the appealing Aussie raw-boned hammer that personified the original, and the refined Teutonic brilliance of the big German performance sedans.
Up-front in the Clubby now is GM’s potent LS3 engine. Built by General Motors Powertrain in North America and available in the current Corvette, it was introduced into the R8 in April last year. With a capacity of 6.2 litres producing 317kW of power @ 6000rpm and 550NM of torque @ 4600 rpm, it puts serious fire-power under the toe.
Put those ergs to work and the R8 Clubsport can be a weapon on the track. But the intended function of the E-Series is not one of track day champion.
Strangely enough, despite this shift, it’s arguably more ‘the legend’ than ever it was.
Exterior styling
Perhaps it’s because it looks so damn good that the R8 stirs the blood; the styling of the R8 is as uncompromising as the car. With twin-nostril grille, deep lower intake, pseudo brake cooling ducts, rear diffuser and quad pipes, there is no mistaking the iron fist behind those purposeful lines.
There is even a hint of ‘supercar’ in the way it sits on those huge rear hoops.
For the first time in HSV’s 20-year history, thanks to the less-compromised VE platform, wider wheels and tyres can be fitted to the rear of the Clubsport. (It’s actually the first HSV to run tyres of different width, front to rear.)
Bigger rubber means more grip and better handling. It also gives the R8 one of the best looking rear-views in the business.
No risk, the 2009 Clubby stands out in any crowd. HSV has done a magnificent job working with the handsome lines of the VE in producing this car.
Even the most gone of blue-oval fans could not help but give some grudging respect to the style of the R8. (“Ok, yeah, it looks good, but it’s shit.” That’s how the compliment would likely be expressed.)
In the rear view mirror it will always jag a second glance. And passing by in the street it has the presence and menace of a hungry white pointer. Everyone notices the R8.
