An obsession with Aussie V8s & a Vauxhall VXR8 ‘Bathurst S'
Discussion
Sorry, this is a bit of a long one, best go grab a brew, or rather a tinny . . .
We’ve all seen cars and dreamed ‘one day’. Well last summer I finally got my hands on the very same car I had my ‘one day’ moment with, and it’s only taken 16 years! That’s a long wait and for a car that isn’t even a piece of automotive exotica but wears a humble ‘Vauxhall’ badge. I’m talking about the VXR8 and in particular the ‘Bathurst S’ edition and, being even more specific, ‘Bathurst S’ No.2.
This is a long story spanning 16 years so lets kick off with a bit of background on Vauxhall’s VXR8. - I know we’re all petrolheads but I’m still amazed by how many car people come up to me at shows and rather vaguely ask ‘is that one of those Australian things?’ or wrongly comment ‘nice Monaro’.
Vauxhall VXR8, what is it?
Introduced in 2007, the VXR8 was an attempt by Vauxhall to add some performance pedigree to its ‘VXR’ line-up and followed on from the earlier success of the 2 door Monaro. Of course, both models have little to do with Vauxhall being sourced from parent company (General Motors) Australian operation; Holden. Actually, both cars are ‘Holden Special Vehicles’ (HSV) rather than Holdens. This is a bit like AMG is to Mercedes, but without all that sophisticated German engineering!
2007 probably won’t go down in history for the year Vauxhall stared importing VXR8s but it is renowned for the 2007-08 financial crisis which sparked the ‘Great Recession’. Unfortunately, Vauxhall could not have picked a worse time to try and sell big thirsty V8 cars. By mid-2009 it was forced to drop the price of a new VXR8 from a ‘value for money’ £35k to a ‘Bonza’ £25k in a final attempt to shift remaining stocks.
My First V8
Back to 2009 and the start of my Aussie V8 love affair. I’d started looking for a 2 year old (2007) used VXR8 which were in the mid £20ks when suddenly I could pick up a brand new one for less! Even my tight Yorkshireman-ness couldn’t argue against this being a ‘reet’ deal! Soon a very excited younger me was driving my trusty 150bhp Skoda Octavia VRS on our final journey together to Slaters Vauxhall in Colwyn Bay where I would chop it in against a brand-new 420bhp Vauxhall VXR8 which I’d secured (after some haggling) for £22,500. (at the time about the same as a mid-range Audi A4).
Day 1 of ownership, parked at Llandudno seafront shortly after collecting from Slaters:
When I arrived at the dealership parked alongside my shiny new ‘Evoke Grey’ VXR8 was the Dealer Principles VXR8 special edition ‘Bathurst S’ finished in gloss white with black stripes and huge 20” alloys. The Bathurst looked stunning although of course I was blown away by my own new VXR8 especially when I first turned the key and fired up that big charismatic LS3 V8. To be honest I soon forgot about the Bathurst as I enjoyed getting to know my new Aussie mate and discovering the joys of oversteer!
This wasn’t just my introduction to performance motoring but really the whole ‘car scene’ as with under 600 VXR8s imported and Vauxhall’s back-up service being somewhat sketchy the online forums became vital resource for all kinds of help and advice, plus great for arranging meets.
I think it’s fair to say the big Aussie got under my skin although as my only car it was definitely not pampered being put to work from fully loaded family holidays to having to get me to work even on bad snow days. She was looked after though, traveling the length of the country for specialist servicing and she always polished up nice for the various car shows and meets. After a year or so I bought the private plate ‘AU5I UFO’ which I though was quite apt as most people didn’t have a clue what car it was. I also replaced the standard loud exhaust with a very loud Wortec 2.5 inch cat back which really bought the V8 to life and is the best money I’ve spent on anything . . . ever.
Coastguard to the rescue!
As the years passed, and the mileage rose towards 6 digits it became apparent a second run-around car was really needed. Que the arrival of another Aussie favourite, an old Toyota 4x4. (I think my life would have been a lot simpler if I’d been born down-under!).
This wasn’t the usual well-worked wreck, as I’d spend over a year searching for the unicorn of pick-up trucks, a 20-year-old well cared for Hi-Lux. The solution eventually came in the form of a pristine ex Coastguard example with just 7000(!) miles on the clock. The Hilux made owning an aging VXR8 much more manageable.
End of an Era
Back in Australia and 2017 saw the sad closure of Holden’s factory ending 161 years of Australian built Holden vehicles and the end of an Aussie icon, the Holden Commodore. The Commodore had always been the base model for most of HSV’s range of performance saloons so no more Commodores meant no more HSVs and in turn the Vauxhall VXR8 was dead.
More Letters; HSV VXR8 GTS-R
Here we deviate slightly (we are getting to the ‘one day, Bathurst S’ part, I promise) and to an unplanned purchase. One morning whilst flicking through Facebook a ‘why’s this so cheap?’ post on the VXR8 forum caught my eye and by dinnertime I’d secured my second VXR8, a rather special 2018 GTS-R. Before production ended in Australia HSV produced its final Commodore derived model, the supercharged 6.2 LSA V8 powered GTS-R. Unsurprisingly demand in Australia was high for these ‘end of an era’ HSVs but despite this Vauxhall managed to secure 15 GTS-R cars for sale here in the UK. All 15 were sold before the ship docked and at over £70k they were certainly no longer ‘bargain buys’ going head-to-head with the German rivals. To be fair they were much better spec’d that earlier models with much improved performance, handling and interiors.
With adaptive dampers and a supercharged LSA V8, the GTS-R is a very different drive to my 9 year older VXR8
Never did I think I’d be in a position to buy one of the 15 GTS-R cars, some had been stashed away in collections, including the bright green GTS-R press car which was retained for display at the Vauxhall Museum. Infact over the 3 years since there arrival in the UK I’d only known of one GTS-R to come up for sale, then out of nowhere a local dealer advertised one. Not understanding that they had the rare ‘GTS-R’ model they had priced it at standard GTS money. Consequently, it was about £20k below where it should have been. Rather unhelpfully several interested parties phoned the dealership to point this out whilst I was out on a quick test drive. Fortunately, the sales guy didn’t seem too bothered and was happy to earn his commission by parting with it at the advertised price, although it did scupper my plans to haggle for a bit of extra discount! So home she came and then there were 3 on the drive.
All my VXR8s are looked after by Walkinshaws based at Chipping Norton which means I can also call in here for an overpriced sausage or t-towel:
Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S
Whey! We’re finally at the VXR8 Bathurst S bit of the story. Back in early 2009, with sales struggling, Vauxhall decided it would be a good idea to approach Walkinshaw Performance UK with the idea of producing a special edition VXR8. WP(UK) had been involved with the import of the standard VXR8 cars for Vauxhall, not surprising given HSV was establish back in 1987 in Australia by Tom Walkinshaw.
WP(UK) produced 30 special edition ‘Bathurst’ cars, half of which were naturally-aspirated whilst the other half were supercharged ‘Bathurst S’ editions. Of the 30 there’s a mix of body colours and manual/autos. However, the one to have (imo) is, like the press car at the time, a Supercharged manual in ‘Herron White’.
The addition of the bright red Harrop HH122 supercharger helped increase power from 420bhp to 564bhp and dominates proceedings with a whine noise like nothing else! I recommend Goggling “Hammond Bathurst” and watching the YouTube video. You’ll get when I mean. The Bathurst S had several other Walkinshaw upgrades including: large capacity intercooler, high-flow fuel injectors, a separate cold air intake, Walkinshaw-developed ECU map, a high-torque capacity clutch, a new set of six-piston callipers up front with four-piston rears, along with stiffer, height-adjustable springs and Walkinshaw-developed coil-over dampers with 15 separate valve settings.
The whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine machine:
Back in Oz all was not well as Vauxhall’s new ‘Bathurst S’ was a major kick in the teeth for the Aussies as this ‘UK only’ model was more powerful than the highest spec HSV, the flagship W427, which boasted as being the fastest and most powerful HSV car ever created. If that wasn’t a hard enough pill to swallow the Bathurst S was available at £44,995 compared to the W427’s price tag of A$155,500 (c.£70,750)!
Of course HSV had to defend its position claiming the W427 was “a more cohesive and refined vehicle than any aftermarket WP supercharger-equipped models” and stressed HSV was restricted in what they could produce for the Australian market as “The OE rules and regs are different in the UK to locally.” One-nil to the Poms!
Bathurst S No.2
So last year, with man-maths just about allowing I decided it was time to keep an eye out for what had always been my dream VXR8 since first setting eyes on the one at Slaters back in 2009. With only around 4 or 5 of the ‘Bathurst S’ cars being both manuals and white I was not expecting much success but in June last year one came up for sale and it turned out it wasn’t just any ‘Bathurst S’ but the very same one I had ogled over as it sat alongside my new VXR8 outside Slaters all those years ago. I knew this was the one I had to have.
Reunited again after 15 years! Yes I'm kicking myself I didn't get a photo of them together outside Slaters back in 2009.
What really sealed the deal was where the car had been in the intervening 15 years – in short, nowhere much! After racking up around 15k during its 2 years at Slaters the car was then bought by a collector in Lancashire where it was very well maintained and rarely used resulting in its amazing condition and low milage of just 22k.
A nice bonus which I didn’t realise until buying the car was it has appeared on Top Gear back in 2009. Fortunately it was not the press car that a rather besotted Hammond ragged around the track but was used in the studio when the live show was recorded later the same year.
My Bathurst S along with the ute 'Maloo' version. The Bathurst S did a 126.3, just 0.1 of a second slower than its main rival at the time the E60 M5.
So for now I’m lucky enough (or stupid enough) to own three VXR8s – and the Hi-Lux. I should really let one go and my original Evoke Grey high-miler is the obvious candidate. However, 16 years together is a long time and a lot of memories! So right now the thought of getting rid feels a bit like sawing an arm off.
Last year I took the 'Bathurst S' back to Slaters at Colwyn Bay where we received a warm welcome & 'No.2' was reunited with its original owner:
At a local car show with 'the enemy' watching on in admiration Hoping to get to a few more shows this year:
Coincidently there are only 15 Vauxhall GTS-R and 15 Bathurst S cars. They might not be exotic but they are rare!
Anyway, if you’re still with me I hope I’ve not bored you too much and sorry but you now know more about an old Vauxhall model than you ever really wanted to know. Hopefully I’ve come across as a bit of a crazy petrolhead rather than just plain crazy. Remember other car models are available to own.
We’ve all seen cars and dreamed ‘one day’. Well last summer I finally got my hands on the very same car I had my ‘one day’ moment with, and it’s only taken 16 years! That’s a long wait and for a car that isn’t even a piece of automotive exotica but wears a humble ‘Vauxhall’ badge. I’m talking about the VXR8 and in particular the ‘Bathurst S’ edition and, being even more specific, ‘Bathurst S’ No.2.
This is a long story spanning 16 years so lets kick off with a bit of background on Vauxhall’s VXR8. - I know we’re all petrolheads but I’m still amazed by how many car people come up to me at shows and rather vaguely ask ‘is that one of those Australian things?’ or wrongly comment ‘nice Monaro’.
Vauxhall VXR8, what is it?
Introduced in 2007, the VXR8 was an attempt by Vauxhall to add some performance pedigree to its ‘VXR’ line-up and followed on from the earlier success of the 2 door Monaro. Of course, both models have little to do with Vauxhall being sourced from parent company (General Motors) Australian operation; Holden. Actually, both cars are ‘Holden Special Vehicles’ (HSV) rather than Holdens. This is a bit like AMG is to Mercedes, but without all that sophisticated German engineering!
2007 probably won’t go down in history for the year Vauxhall stared importing VXR8s but it is renowned for the 2007-08 financial crisis which sparked the ‘Great Recession’. Unfortunately, Vauxhall could not have picked a worse time to try and sell big thirsty V8 cars. By mid-2009 it was forced to drop the price of a new VXR8 from a ‘value for money’ £35k to a ‘Bonza’ £25k in a final attempt to shift remaining stocks.
My First V8
Back to 2009 and the start of my Aussie V8 love affair. I’d started looking for a 2 year old (2007) used VXR8 which were in the mid £20ks when suddenly I could pick up a brand new one for less! Even my tight Yorkshireman-ness couldn’t argue against this being a ‘reet’ deal! Soon a very excited younger me was driving my trusty 150bhp Skoda Octavia VRS on our final journey together to Slaters Vauxhall in Colwyn Bay where I would chop it in against a brand-new 420bhp Vauxhall VXR8 which I’d secured (after some haggling) for £22,500. (at the time about the same as a mid-range Audi A4).
Day 1 of ownership, parked at Llandudno seafront shortly after collecting from Slaters:
When I arrived at the dealership parked alongside my shiny new ‘Evoke Grey’ VXR8 was the Dealer Principles VXR8 special edition ‘Bathurst S’ finished in gloss white with black stripes and huge 20” alloys. The Bathurst looked stunning although of course I was blown away by my own new VXR8 especially when I first turned the key and fired up that big charismatic LS3 V8. To be honest I soon forgot about the Bathurst as I enjoyed getting to know my new Aussie mate and discovering the joys of oversteer!
This wasn’t just my introduction to performance motoring but really the whole ‘car scene’ as with under 600 VXR8s imported and Vauxhall’s back-up service being somewhat sketchy the online forums became vital resource for all kinds of help and advice, plus great for arranging meets.
I think it’s fair to say the big Aussie got under my skin although as my only car it was definitely not pampered being put to work from fully loaded family holidays to having to get me to work even on bad snow days. She was looked after though, traveling the length of the country for specialist servicing and she always polished up nice for the various car shows and meets. After a year or so I bought the private plate ‘AU5I UFO’ which I though was quite apt as most people didn’t have a clue what car it was. I also replaced the standard loud exhaust with a very loud Wortec 2.5 inch cat back which really bought the V8 to life and is the best money I’ve spent on anything . . . ever.
Coastguard to the rescue!
As the years passed, and the mileage rose towards 6 digits it became apparent a second run-around car was really needed. Que the arrival of another Aussie favourite, an old Toyota 4x4. (I think my life would have been a lot simpler if I’d been born down-under!).
This wasn’t the usual well-worked wreck, as I’d spend over a year searching for the unicorn of pick-up trucks, a 20-year-old well cared for Hi-Lux. The solution eventually came in the form of a pristine ex Coastguard example with just 7000(!) miles on the clock. The Hilux made owning an aging VXR8 much more manageable.
End of an Era
Back in Australia and 2017 saw the sad closure of Holden’s factory ending 161 years of Australian built Holden vehicles and the end of an Aussie icon, the Holden Commodore. The Commodore had always been the base model for most of HSV’s range of performance saloons so no more Commodores meant no more HSVs and in turn the Vauxhall VXR8 was dead.
More Letters; HSV VXR8 GTS-R
Here we deviate slightly (we are getting to the ‘one day, Bathurst S’ part, I promise) and to an unplanned purchase. One morning whilst flicking through Facebook a ‘why’s this so cheap?’ post on the VXR8 forum caught my eye and by dinnertime I’d secured my second VXR8, a rather special 2018 GTS-R. Before production ended in Australia HSV produced its final Commodore derived model, the supercharged 6.2 LSA V8 powered GTS-R. Unsurprisingly demand in Australia was high for these ‘end of an era’ HSVs but despite this Vauxhall managed to secure 15 GTS-R cars for sale here in the UK. All 15 were sold before the ship docked and at over £70k they were certainly no longer ‘bargain buys’ going head-to-head with the German rivals. To be fair they were much better spec’d that earlier models with much improved performance, handling and interiors.
With adaptive dampers and a supercharged LSA V8, the GTS-R is a very different drive to my 9 year older VXR8
Never did I think I’d be in a position to buy one of the 15 GTS-R cars, some had been stashed away in collections, including the bright green GTS-R press car which was retained for display at the Vauxhall Museum. Infact over the 3 years since there arrival in the UK I’d only known of one GTS-R to come up for sale, then out of nowhere a local dealer advertised one. Not understanding that they had the rare ‘GTS-R’ model they had priced it at standard GTS money. Consequently, it was about £20k below where it should have been. Rather unhelpfully several interested parties phoned the dealership to point this out whilst I was out on a quick test drive. Fortunately, the sales guy didn’t seem too bothered and was happy to earn his commission by parting with it at the advertised price, although it did scupper my plans to haggle for a bit of extra discount! So home she came and then there were 3 on the drive.
All my VXR8s are looked after by Walkinshaws based at Chipping Norton which means I can also call in here for an overpriced sausage or t-towel:
Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S
Whey! We’re finally at the VXR8 Bathurst S bit of the story. Back in early 2009, with sales struggling, Vauxhall decided it would be a good idea to approach Walkinshaw Performance UK with the idea of producing a special edition VXR8. WP(UK) had been involved with the import of the standard VXR8 cars for Vauxhall, not surprising given HSV was establish back in 1987 in Australia by Tom Walkinshaw.
WP(UK) produced 30 special edition ‘Bathurst’ cars, half of which were naturally-aspirated whilst the other half were supercharged ‘Bathurst S’ editions. Of the 30 there’s a mix of body colours and manual/autos. However, the one to have (imo) is, like the press car at the time, a Supercharged manual in ‘Herron White’.
The addition of the bright red Harrop HH122 supercharger helped increase power from 420bhp to 564bhp and dominates proceedings with a whine noise like nothing else! I recommend Goggling “Hammond Bathurst” and watching the YouTube video. You’ll get when I mean. The Bathurst S had several other Walkinshaw upgrades including: large capacity intercooler, high-flow fuel injectors, a separate cold air intake, Walkinshaw-developed ECU map, a high-torque capacity clutch, a new set of six-piston callipers up front with four-piston rears, along with stiffer, height-adjustable springs and Walkinshaw-developed coil-over dampers with 15 separate valve settings.
The whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine machine:
Back in Oz all was not well as Vauxhall’s new ‘Bathurst S’ was a major kick in the teeth for the Aussies as this ‘UK only’ model was more powerful than the highest spec HSV, the flagship W427, which boasted as being the fastest and most powerful HSV car ever created. If that wasn’t a hard enough pill to swallow the Bathurst S was available at £44,995 compared to the W427’s price tag of A$155,500 (c.£70,750)!
Of course HSV had to defend its position claiming the W427 was “a more cohesive and refined vehicle than any aftermarket WP supercharger-equipped models” and stressed HSV was restricted in what they could produce for the Australian market as “The OE rules and regs are different in the UK to locally.” One-nil to the Poms!
Bathurst S No.2
So last year, with man-maths just about allowing I decided it was time to keep an eye out for what had always been my dream VXR8 since first setting eyes on the one at Slaters back in 2009. With only around 4 or 5 of the ‘Bathurst S’ cars being both manuals and white I was not expecting much success but in June last year one came up for sale and it turned out it wasn’t just any ‘Bathurst S’ but the very same one I had ogled over as it sat alongside my new VXR8 outside Slaters all those years ago. I knew this was the one I had to have.
Reunited again after 15 years! Yes I'm kicking myself I didn't get a photo of them together outside Slaters back in 2009.
What really sealed the deal was where the car had been in the intervening 15 years – in short, nowhere much! After racking up around 15k during its 2 years at Slaters the car was then bought by a collector in Lancashire where it was very well maintained and rarely used resulting in its amazing condition and low milage of just 22k.
A nice bonus which I didn’t realise until buying the car was it has appeared on Top Gear back in 2009. Fortunately it was not the press car that a rather besotted Hammond ragged around the track but was used in the studio when the live show was recorded later the same year.
My Bathurst S along with the ute 'Maloo' version. The Bathurst S did a 126.3, just 0.1 of a second slower than its main rival at the time the E60 M5.
So for now I’m lucky enough (or stupid enough) to own three VXR8s – and the Hi-Lux. I should really let one go and my original Evoke Grey high-miler is the obvious candidate. However, 16 years together is a long time and a lot of memories! So right now the thought of getting rid feels a bit like sawing an arm off.
Last year I took the 'Bathurst S' back to Slaters at Colwyn Bay where we received a warm welcome & 'No.2' was reunited with its original owner:
At a local car show with 'the enemy' watching on in admiration
Hoping to get to a few more shows this year: Coincidently there are only 15 Vauxhall GTS-R and 15 Bathurst S cars. They might not be exotic but they are rare!
Anyway, if you’re still with me I hope I’ve not bored you too much and sorry but you now know more about an old Vauxhall model than you ever really wanted to know. Hopefully I’ve come across as a bit of a crazy petrolhead rather than just plain crazy. Remember other car models are available to own.
Edited by jamesr321 on Thursday 17th April 15:55
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