Has anyone run their G8 at Bonneville yet? Who has the fastest VE chassis out there? I don't mean 1/4 mile fast either, I'm talking top end mph! Has anyone clocked 200mph yet in a VE chassis based road worthy G8 yet? This car was designed to compete with the 5 series BMWs, so what's the best thus far?

Damn good question. I've seen footage of a SS owner in the middle east clocking 280kph and it still had some legs left, but the magic 200mph, not yet unless it's a racing VE

Do the G8's have a speed limiter in them as they do in Europe? Could be issue then.

I've heard some say yes and the differences were 135mph and 165mph or in that range. I've had mine to 145mph but ran out of road to run safely. I can consistently hit 135mph though will very little ease. And since I live in Connecticut, it makes it hard to get to Bonneville, at the present time, to make a "Top" run. But you can bet your $ that I'm ever so itching to get over there and run it in my G8 GT. I've also heard that any tuner can remove the limiter as well from the programming.

I got to much the same one night (140ish) out bush, but also ran out of road too. Was also fearfull that a roo would jump out in the dark from the bush in front of me.

If you've never seen what can happen to your car when you hit a roo at speed, what this. Don't watch if you get squeamish. I'm not laughing at this vid, but only using it to demonstrate a point as it's the best slowed down vision I've seen of such an incident.

RIP big fella!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yszWnzyg1DM

Man, I'd love to run at Mount Panarama just to see what it's like too. I'd take it that hitting a roo would be about as damaging as hitting a deer over here in the states, which I nearly did with my wife in the G8 about 2 weeks ago. There were 2 full sized deer that ran out of the woods and cut across the road. We missed them by about 20 feet, too close for me. Thankfully we were only going 40mph too. It must be nice to walk into a Holden Dealership and just gawk at the entire range of Commodores and Utes and the Sportwagons. I know if I could I'd be there and just spend all day looking at them and dreaming and of course taking a couple out for a test drive too.

Given the track (Mount Panarama) is a public road 360 days of the year, you usually find 1-2 cops with radar hidden away. My first couple of drives around the mountain were at the approved "60 kph" and even then, the last bit leading up to the top of the mountain was scary.

Back in Oct, a group of us from Club Commodore went out west past Bathurst for a car show. On the way back to Sydney, one just had to stop and take some pics at the track. Here's a few pics from pit strait.

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/CCA%20Xmas%20BBQ%202009/Parkes%20Show%20n%20Shine%20Oct%202009/CIMG8611.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/CCA%20Xmas%20BBQ%202009/Parkes%20Show%20n%20Shine%20Oct%202009/CIMG8612.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/CCA%20Xmas%20BBQ%202009/Parkes%20Show%20n%20Shine%20Oct%202009/CIMG8622.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/CCA%20Xmas%20BBQ%202009/Parkes%20Show%20n%20Shine%20Oct%202009/CIMG8624.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/CCA%20Xmas%20BBQ%202009/Parkes%20Show%20n%20Shine%20Oct%202009/CIMG8626.jpg


Even had time for a lap or two...good fun.

Back in August we took about 70 members (inc families and guests) and 40 odd cars up to the mountain for a BBQ.

Here a few more pics from that day.

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/Brock%20Cruise%2009/CIMG8331.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/Brock%20Cruise%2009/CIMG8338.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/Brock%20Cruise%2009/CIMG8341.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/Brock%20Cruise%2009/CIMG8342.jpg

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af334/GKW_01/Brock%20Cruise%2009/CIMG8393.jpg

Would love to see some pics from any G8 cruises, track days!!

Happy New Year all!

Even if you find a way to disable the speed limiter on the G8, you would have to make sure you have tires that can handle 200mph. The Potenza's are W rated to 168mph, so any speed over that could be dangerous.

GKW. Now that's totally cool! Very civil of you to share those with the group. I can't tell you the level of envy I have right now, even just to drive Mount Panamara at normal speeds. I was not aware that it is a normally traveled road either. I've always been a fan of the V8 Supercars and the race held at Bathurst. I try to catch it anytime it's on "Speed" channel over here in the states.


DRCUSTOMPARTS... Rest assured that I wouldn't push it beyond the limits of the tires. I'm aware of speed ratings and would only have a set of wheels and tires that were specifically set for high end runs. Right now for the winter I'm running Goodyear Eagle RS-As all season radials and haven't pushed the car since. Thanks for the concern too. BTW, I like the Bright Red G8 GT you've got as well. I originally test drove an 08 GT in the same color with the performance package as well and with the Onyx interior, loved it too but needed one with a full warranty on it. The one I drove had 24k miles on it and I drive long distances. Maybe next time.

GKW. Now that's totally cool! Very civil of you to share those with the group. I can't tell you the level of envy I have right now, even just to drive Mount Panamara at normal speeds. I was not aware that it is a normally traveled road either. I've always been a fan of the V8 Supercars and the race held at Bathurst. I try to catch it anytime it's on "Speed" channel over here in the states.


Just gotta to remember one thing....its a two way road:driving:. Sometimes you find yourelf taking the racing line only to have an "oh s__t" experience. LOL

If anyone comes down under, yell out and we'll origanise a drive to the "Mountain" for a few laps.

Glad you enjoy the Supercars. Shame the only thing that they share with the VE's is the name and badge. The race VE's run on an old VY platform, are six inches shorter and only run a 5.0lt. I do long for the days when what was raced on Sunday could bought on Monday. That said, still glad to see rev heads outside of Aust / NZ enjoying the Supercars too.....especially BATHURST....there ain't nothing else like it.

Apart from that, to have a place like Bonneville where speed is appreciated and encouraged, now that makes me jeleous. To have a 6.0l and not being able to fully wind it out is a total waste....love the low end grunt but love top end speed more! Guess my Potenza 95Y's are a total waste in Aust then.....bugger!

I bought my car used with 22,000 miles on it, but since it was certified I got a 4yr/48,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty on it. So I really only lost out on 10,000 miles of warranty compared to buying new, but I paid $20K for my car so I feel I got a great deal on it. According to my insurance policy it's still worth more than I paid for it, so I can't complain.

USD20k...screaming bargin. I'll never forgive Holden for the price they make us pay here!

Yeah the prices are ridiculous in Australia. I couldn't afford to that pay that much for a car here on the wages that I make, I'd be driving some little econobox.

Prior to buying my VE, I thought I'd give Holden and GM in the States a bit of a poke re pricing differential between Aust and US. At the time the AUD/USD was circa 0.90 which is pretty damn good so I thought, why not try them out and see if one can badger them enough to give me discount just so I go away.

Well surprise, surprise...GM referred me to Holden, Holden tried referring me back to GM but I kept at them. After awhile, they stopped responding so I suspect my emails to Holden go strait to the junk bin.

Didn't stop me buying the car, but atleast I gave it go before hand.

Now back to the original topic of this thread...Bonneville. There's every chance I will be heading over to the US for the G8 Nationals in 2011 as part of a US road trip, so would have to drop by Bonnevillle and put the rental through it's paces....evil lol!!!

Just to give an idea of the competition.

http://www.gtspirit.com/2010/01/02/racing-dynamics-bmw-r35-r50s/

"Racing Dynamics flagship will be based on the 550i and is baptized as the R50S. The 110 horses that were added to the R35 are stunning, but the package for the R50S adds up to 213bhp, giving the V8 a total output of 620bhp! Enough power to let you cruise over the Autobahn at a top speed of 212mph (340km/h). Just as a comparison, the current M5 top speed without electronic limiter, will not get you passed the 180mph (288km/h) barrier."

Love an M5. Always have, always will.

Shame that unless you live in Europe or can get to somewhere like Bonneville, you'lll probably never get the opportunity to use such power unless you like pressing your luck with the law and god. Same goes for most other cars these days. The cars have overtaken the road design, but to balance that out, the driving skill of most drivers leaves much to desired too.

Thank god the "Nanny" state which Australia has become hasn't banned track days...yet!

I've heard some say yes and the differences were 135mph and 165mph or in that range. I've had mine to 145mph but ran out of road to run safely. I can consistently hit 135mph though will very little ease. And since I live in Connecticut, it makes it hard to get to Bonneville, at the present time, to make a "Top" run. But you can bet your $ that I'm ever so itching to get over there and run it in my G8 GT. I've also heard that any tuner can remove the limiter as well from the programming.

Check out the Maxton Mile in North Carolina. I don't think you get as long a track as Bonneville, and I believe it's on a runway. I want to say there is a similar event in Michigan, but I can't remember the name. Hot Rod has coverage of a lot of these events.

Bonneville requires full cage over 130. If you run over than without a cage they kick you out and don't give you a time.
Texas Mile!

Boy, the news from down under just gets better an better.


http://www.hsv.com.au/hsv/press/default.aspx?ID=1153

Yeah, saw this. No bad, but I think if was coughing up $55k odd, I'd stretch for the extra few $$ and go the HSV E2 GTS. Does cost more but a better set-up.

That said, if this had been around around when I bought my SSV 60th Anniversary, I may have been very tempted indeed, but I love my current ride too much now to change. Maybe the missus will let me have one as my weekend car.....NOT!

Tires should not be an issue as long you don't drive at such speeds for a long time. If you just accelerate and stop, the tires won't have enough time to overheat from high speed.

It has nothing to do with the tires heating up, they have to be constructed to withstand the forces of spinning at a high rate of speed. The faster the tires spin, the more they are likely to come apart from the inertia of the tire mass that multiplies as it spins faster. Drag racers run for less than 10 seconds but their tires are rated for 200+ mph.

Drag racer tires are rated for only a few seconds at 200 mph :-) The tires are normally overbuilt, so a short-time higher speed without any extra stresses (bumps, intense braking or acceleration and such) is not an issue. The centrifugal force is proportional to the square of the speed. 200mph/150mph = 1.33, 1.33^2 = 1.8. I'm pretty sure that the tires should have at least a factor of 2 extra strength built into them.

However the heat is a serious issue. Every time a tire rotates, it flexes. This generates heat. (That's why the tire pressures rise after some highway driving). If a tire overheats, it starts falling apart.

Even from the mechanical strength standpoint, the steel cord in the tires doesn't fail all at once. It collects the micro-cracks that grow over time. The tires are designed for non-stop running at the rated speed for the life of the tire. A short-term higher speed run will reduce the life of tire a little but won't cause an immediate failure.

Well I quickly accelerated to 155MPH about a month ago on a "safe" stretch of interstate in my G8. With larger balls than I will probably ever have I think it would have gone 165 but I've never gone that fast in a car before...

Andy

Dont forget aerodynamics. I doubt the G8s or Commodores were designed to stay grounded at 200 mph. More likely they would become airborne before getting close, at least with stock design.

Saw a post from a guy in the UK today with a VXR8. Standing mile maxed out at 170mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOZvvUSqQXc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOZvvUSqQXc)