Following five months of dedicated work, a uniquely restored Holden Monaro has been unveiled by Supercars racing driver Craig Lowndes today at GM Holden’s headquarters in Port Melbourne.

The finished Monaro is a unique one-off creation of Project Monaro and a lucky Holden customer will soon be handed the keys to this very special prize car.

“I wish I could take it home myself actually. It really is a one of a kind Holden Monaro, and it drives incredibly well,” Craig Lowndes said.

What started as a well-worn 214,000km 2004 CV8 Monaro, is now a stunning tribute to the commitment and capability of Holden and a small group of enthusiastic project partners.

The specially developed Panorama Blue Suede paint, developed by PPG and applied by Holden Certified Collision repairer B&A in Melbourne, is what makes the stunning initial impression.

Holden made significant improvements in the big three driving dynamics – Go, Stop, and Turn. The original LS1 5.7-litre V8 engine received a complete hand re-build by Maurice Fabietti, who runs the ACDelco Pro Slammer Monaro drag racing team. Modifications were numerous, including a Chevrolet Performance camshaft from Eagle Auto and some cylinder head finessing.

A US spec GTO exhaust system deals with the spent gasses and adds some handy rumble. The additional engine output is managed by a heavy-duty rework of the original transmission by FluidDrive – to GM global specifications.

The big coupe was fitted with AP Racing brakes, similar to those from HSVs of the era, and the suspension was improved by Sachs Performance in conjunction with Triple Eight Race Engineering. The latest Bridgestone high performance S007A tyres complete the handling package.

The bespoke bonnet scoops, front splitter, fuel filler door and a lip spoiler, were all conceived by Holden Design department. They were brought to life by HP-EVOK3D; 3D printing solutions partner to the Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

The interior was fully refreshed by Auto Image Interiors, again using inspiration from Holden Design. Finishing touches like unique badges, build plates and wheel centre treatments were all created as one-off parts by long term Holden supplier LNI.

When Project Monaro hit the test track at the Holden Proving Ground in Lang Lang Victoria, Lowndes was even more impressed.

“How awesome is this car – it is seriously something special and it sounds great! I’ve had an absolute ball driving this around,” said Lowndes.

Holden’s lead Performance Engineer Rob Trubiani accompanied Lowndes for his initial drive evaluation. Rob has been responsible for the way that Holdens drive and handle for the past 23 years.

He has been refining and fine tuning the Project Monaro, and has taken it through a mix of the Holden Proving Ground tests to ensure everything is working as it should.

“Some of the tests we put Project Monaro through were similar to the tests our talented Engineers put the original V2 Monaro’s through almost 20 years ago, it’s a great car to drive and someone is going to be very lucky when they win it,” he said.

Holden has documented the build of Project Monaro in a series of videos hosted by Craig Lowndes – watch the final installment below.

The post Project Monaro sees a CV8 Holden Monaro brought back to life appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Dutch coachbuilder Vandenbrink Design has unveiled a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti it has transformed into a shooting brake, with the company prepared to do a limited run of similar builds if the customer demand is there. 

While the company first penned the unique redesign for the 612 all the way back in 2008, it wasn’t until recently that one well-heeled customer wanted them to make that rendering into the real deal.

Often critiqued at the time of its launch for its somewhat questionable looks, the Vandenbrink treatment truly transforms the 612 Scaglietti into something actually rather handsome, with its new rump making it look to be something of a potential precursor to cars like the FF and current GTC4Lusso.

Certainly, the execution looks to be Ferrari factory quality, as the longer roofline and big boot fit surprisingly well with the existing parts of the 612’s design, slotting nicely between those prominent rear haunches.

On the inside it looks like it was always meant to be this way as well, with the tan leather-lined boot clearly resembling the sort of thing you’d expect to see there if Ferrari itself had made this from the get-go.

Worth noting, however, is that Vandenbrink has left all the oily bits alone, meaning this long-roof 612 has the same 5.75-litre naturally aspirated V12 under the bonnet as any other example, along with the more popular ‘F1’ automated manual transmission, meaning carryover outputs of 397kW and 588Nm and a likely similar 0-100km/h time of 4.2 seconds to that of the original coupé.

Vandenbrink is clearly proud of what it has created, given the company is truly putting their own name on it by not simply calling it a converted 612, but instead making it stand alone as the Vandenbrink Shooting Brake.

Currently, the example you see in the pictures here – which, for those in or visiting the Netherlands, is currently on display at the Classic Youngtimers Consultancy in Uden – is the only one in existance. It’s up for sale, too, with the car’s web listing indicating and asking price of €300,000, which translates to just under $489,000 Australian.

However, Vandenbrink will happily build a limited run of subsequent examples for customers who so desire one of their own, and you can expect any further examples to sport different and potentially very niche touches as in the company’s press release, it mentions that “each Shooting Brake will hereby be ‘designed to purpose’, with features for specific use like falconry, racing, and equine sports.”

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This 1976 Datsun 280Z Fairlady Z is arguably one of the most unique projects to come out of Vilner Studio and the story of the car is no less interesting than the project itself.

Rescued from its owner in Hamburg who is associated with Erich Hartmann – Bubi, a successful flying ace in Germany, Vilner says they “literally pulled the car out of the owner’s living room.”

“We removed some of the house’s window assembly to pull the car out,” says Atanas Vilner.

Once in Vilner’s garage, the tuner started restoring the car with the support of BASF R-M. First up, the car was stripped of its original ‘Gold Metallic’ paint job and given a new coat of paint called the ‘Vilner Cobalt Matte Metallic’

Vilner also developed a special ‘Vilner Copper Rose’ colour for the car’s ‘Superlite’ styled wheels, front grille, rear fascia, as well as on the centre mirror cap, steering wheel, gear lever button and the ‘DATSUN’ plate inside the car.

While every single component of the car was checked changed, refreshed or replaced with new ones, Vilner said it has endeavour to keep the car as close to the original as their imagination allowed them to.

Some modern parts include full LED headlights and taillights, LED ‘Z’ badges for the side indicators, machined side mirrors and a fully customised side exit stainless steel exhaust system. For a cleaner silhouette, Vilner has removed the 280Z’s front and rear bumpers.

Inside, Vilner’s magic shines with almost 100 per cent of the panels wrapped in vintage leather, while the side panels and central tunnel are covered in blue felt. Blue is also the colour of choice for the seat belts, floor mats, seat piping and headliner, the latter which has been shaped like the quilted seats to provide a sound deadening effect.

On the mechanical side, the car was disassembled to the last bolt, with every part either refurbished, replaced with an OEM part or with a better one. It retains its 125kW/221Nm 2,792cc in-line 6-cylinder petrol that is connected to the rear wheels via a 3-speed automatic transmission. Vilner’s 280Z also sits 20mm closer to the ground thanks to a set of Eibach springs.

For their trouble, Vilner is asking €75,000 for the car, which they said is modest considering the amount of work and materials that went into the car.

The post Vilner restores 1976 Datsun 280Z to its former glory and more appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Forget about the Ferrari V8-powered Toyota 86. This is the real deal – a world’s first Toyota 86 powered by a Nissan GT-R engine, and not just the usual VR38DETT twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 from the standard GT-R, it’s the stroked 4.1-litre HKS GT1000 engine!

Yes, that’s right, this thing puts down 1,000hp or 745kW of power on a body as light as the Toyota 86. This is StreetFX’s appropriately named WTF86, the Australian tuner’s latest project, or should we say, missile.

Not satisfied with a turbo build on the stock FA20 Subaru boxer engine, which was already pushing out a potent 545hp or 406kW to the rear wheels, StreetFX embarked on a power chase and the decision was to swap out the flat-four with a HKS heavy-duty R35 GT-R engine complete with upgraded turbochargers, dry sump conversion and harmonic balancer. It’s paired to a six-speed sequential gearbox and VR38 bellhousing.

StreetFX customised everything from engine and transmission mounts to clutch and differentials. The powertrain exhales through a Greddy EVO exhaust system, while electronic comes courtesy of Motec.

This is one insane Toyota 86 build. Check out the full details of this StreetFX project here.

The post StreetFX Toyota 86 with a Nissan GT-R engine churns out 745kW! appeared first on ForceGT.com.

While the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S maybe the new Nürburgring front-wheel drive record holder, the one-off Golf GTI Heartbeat surely holds the title of the most powerful Golf GTI, ever.

Boasting a mighty 295kW of power – 66kW more than the limited edition Clubsport S – the Golf GTI Heartbeat is the work of a group of young apprentices and was created exclusively for the annual Wörthersee meet in Austria in less than nine months.

We are not sure what lurks underneath the bonnet of the distinctive GTI Heartbeat, with Volkswagen only saying it is based on the Golf GTI Performance.

The car is finished in a reflex silver metallic exterior paint combined with a dark grey wrap for the roof and front end. The custom body kit is finished in high-gloss black and comes with a set of 20-inch BBS alloy wheels with a bespoke finish created especially for the car.

Inside, Volkswagen says the rear seats have been removed and the boot modified to accommodate a 1,360-watt audio system with 7-speakers, engraved glass covers and LED lighting.

The post Meet the most powerful Volkswagen Golf GTI – the 295kW Heartbeat appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Well renowned tuner Blood Type Racing will make an appearance at SEMA auto-show this year to reveal their Sinister looking Hyundai Veloster Turbo R-Spec .

The vehicles evil look begins with a “Carbon Black” paint job followed with aggressive red racing stripes running from the front splitter and up over the hood. The Veloster’s wide body kit includes the fenders, side skirts and canards which are full carbon fiber and provide not only weight saving but also its aggressive, muscular stance.

Red Accents on the SSR three piece wheels along with the “Demon Eye” headlamps provide that final demonic touch to the exterior.

BTR haven’t neglected the mechanicals on the Veloster, they have completely overhauled them allowing the 1.6-litre four-cylinder block to produce 373kW (500hp), that’s a massive 224kW (300hp) increase over stock!

Almost everything is custom on this build, the pistons, connecting rods, sleeves, bearings and valve springs were all custom fabricated for this build and despite these massive upgrades the Veloster still maintains its OEM drive-ability.

The Interior was also given a race spec upgrade with a 4-point roll cage, Sabelt 4-point harness, racing seats and rear seat delete for weight reduction. Finally the audio system has undergone a complete overhaul with Rockford Fosgate speakers and subs.

Sam Lee, director of marketing at BTR, said “The focus of this build was to boost the performance capabilities of the Veloster R-Spec while creating one of the angriest-looking Hyundai vehicles to chew up the pavement”.

I think we can all agree they achieved their goal. A full list of modifications can be found below.

POWERTRAIN MODIFICATIONS

• BTR Custom ECU Tuning
• Pavel’s Racing Engines (PRE) Custom Forged Pistons
• PRE Custom Forged Connecting Rods
• PRE Custom Sleeves
• PRE Custom Bearings
• PRE Custom Valve Springs
• KMC Fabrication Custom Intake Manifold
• Devils Own Methanol/Water Injection System
• KMC Fabrication Custom Dump Tube
• KMC Fabrication Custom Cat-less 3-in. Exhaust
• Custom Front-Mount Intercooler
• Garrett GTX3582R Dual Ball Bearing Turbo
• KMC Fabrication Custom Sidewinder Turbo Manifold
• Synapse Engineering Radial Blow Off Valve
• Synapse Engineering Wastegate
• Clutch Masters Upgraded Clutch 

CHASSIS/SUSPENSION MODIFICATIONS

• BC Racing Coilovers
• Pierce Motorsports Strut Tower Brace
• Pierce Motorsports Under Body Brace
• Pierce Motorsports Torsion Bar
• Slotted and Dimpled Rotors
• Performance Brake Pads
• Upgraded Brake Lines
• SSR Professor TF1 19×9.5-in. Wheels with Custom Red Face
• Toyo Proxes R888 Tires
• Tire Sticker.com “Toyo Tires” / “Proxes” permanent sticker

EXTERIOR MODIFICATIONS

• SoCal Garage Works Carbon Fiber Wide Body Fender Kit
• SoCal Garage Works Carbon Fiber Front Canards
• SoCal Garage Works Carbon Fiber Side Skirt Covers
• SoCal Garage Works Custom Front Grill
• APR Carbon Fiber Front Lip
• Seibon Carbon, Carbon Fiber Hood
• Seibon Carbon, Carbon Fiber Rear Hatch
• Seibon Carbon, Carbon Fiber Hood Prop
• Sequence Garage Devil’s Spoiler
• Sequence Garage Rear Bumper Lip
• Rally Armor Red Mud Flaps
• BASF Carbon Black Paint
• Genuine Hyundai Side Mirrors with Turn Indicators
• Custom Diode Dynamics Headlights with Demon Eyes

INTERIOR MODIFICATIONS

• Sabelt GT-130 Racing Seats
• Sabelt Saloon 4-Point Harness
• Sabelt SW-465 Steering Wheel
• Pierce Motorsports 4-Point Roll Cage
• BTR Custom Rear Seat Delete
• BTR Custom Subwoofer Box
• BTR Custom Trunk False Floor
• BTR Custom Battery Trunk Relocation
• Rockford Fosgate P3SD4-10 Shallow Subwoofers
• Rockford Fosgate P1650 2-Way Coaxial Speakers
• Rockford Fosgate P165-SI 2-Way Component Speakers
• Rockford Fosgate P1000X5 Amplifier
• Tanabe VLS OLED Boost Gauge
• Tanabe VLS OLED Wideband AFR Gauge

The post Hyundai Veloster Turbo R-Spec to make appearance at SEMA appeared first on ForceGT.com.

At the annual Volkswagen enthusiasts get together at Wörthersee, the German brand not only showed case the flaming hot Audi A1 Clubsport (which you can read about here), it has also taken a stock standard Golf GTi and turned it into a pocket rocket!

Called the Golf GTi Reifnitz, the one off is built by the company’s own apprentices. The boys replaced the stock turbo with a Stage 3 turbo kit and intercooler from APR. For good measure, they have also fitted an RSC performance exhaust. All these boosted power output to a monstrous 272kW, 117kW more than the already awesome standard car!

Of course, upping the power without the accompanying visual enhancements is a travesty. So the guys have also fitted the car with an aggressive wide-body aero kit and a new bonnet with twin vents. There are also offset red, white and blue go fast stripes along the length of the car.

The interior has been stripped out and fitted with a roll cage and racing bucket seats, all covered in light but grippy Alcantara.

Check out the gallery below to have a closer look at what may well be the hottest GTi!

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Pioneer – The word itself conjures thoughts of everything from heroic settlers blazing trails into the unknown to brilliant engineers on the bleeding edge of technological wonders. Renown for tuning Nissan’s VQ engines and platforms found in Nissan’s Z line of sports car (350Z and 370Z) as well as the V-Series Skylines (Infiniti G35 and G37 in the US), GTM Motorsport are moving into uncharted territory with what will be the very first four digit horsepower Nissan 370Z.

If you are an avid reader of ForceGT, you might remember we posted a brief introduction on this monstrous 370Z awhile ago, well now work is underway and this build by GTM will transform this modest 370Z into a 1000 horsepower rocket. Though this type of challenge may seem simple on the surface, this thought process belies the truth of the incredible amount of research, knowledge and dedication necessary for successful completion of such a massive undertaking. Changing the aspiration of an OEM car, while adding nearly four times the amount of horsepower, requires reverse engineering of nearly all systems on the vehicle and development of custom applications that will not only support the newfound power levels, but will also maintain similar characteristics and drivability of the original product.

One of the key aspects in an extraordinary build such as this is the Engine Management System (EMS). Absolutely nothing is more important than the safety and reliability of the power-plant that will be the heart of a 1000 plus horsepower beast. Chosen for this arduous task is the well known and proven HKS F-CON V Pro.

“One of the HKS F-CON best capabilities is the option to run any injector size you desire. It has a very solid injector drivers so you run low or high impedance and up to a 1600 cc without a glitch”, said Sam from GTM Motorsport.

To date, GTM is the only organization to successfully tune the VQ37VHR with VVEL using this superb management system. Though the sheer magnitude of tuning such a complex build is daunting, GTM hoped the outcome will be the same as all their previous endeavors, such as the 518 rear-wheel horsepower Nissan Nismo 370Z and the twin turbo Nissan 350Z.

After having decided upon what EMS to utilize for the safest and most reliable tune, GTM directed their attention towards the engine. Mating the EMS with the appropriate power-plant is of the utmost importance when considering all facets of an extremely high horsepower build. There is really only one obvious choice – the GTM Performance Engineering VQ45VHR. Comprised of the GTM Hi-Rev 4340 chromoly high tensile steel alloy billet crankshaft with 96mm stroke, GTM spec Arias Stage 2 pistons, GTM billet rods and 100mm bore Darton MID sleeves, this 4.5 liter beast of an engine is still OEM enough to allow for the usage of the VVEL system. And when coupled with the GTM Stage 6 Twin Turbo kit, it pushes out massive amounts of power.

One glaring hole that is painfully obvious with this setup is that a 1000 plus horsepower in a Nissan 370Z will absolutely overpower any suspension and/or rubber available for it resulting in massive loss of traction. As this project car will be street driven upon completion, lack of traction and usability were not options. GTM uses the in-house designed and engineered PNP Racelogic Traction Control system. Being that maximum acceleration is achieved by limiting the slip between the tire and the road, the Racelogic TC system works by monitoring the speed of all four wheels using the ABS system or specially fitted sensors. When wheel spin is detected the engine power is reduced, by cutting a single injector pulse or a spark, until grip is resumed. This occurs in a thousandth of a second, and appears to the driver as a slight miss-fire with almost no noticeable loss in acceleration.

Featured components:

• GTM Stage 6 Twin Turbo kit with dual GT35R turbos
• GTM 4.5L stroker mid- sleeved block
• GTM Billet stroker crank with 96mm stroke
• GTM Arias extreme HD pistons
• GTM GTR intake manifold conversion
• GTM 3″ True Dual Exhaust
• L19 Head Studs
• Cometic Head Gaskets
• GTM Stage 1 Heads
• GTM springs and Titanium retainers
• GTM Stage 5 Return Fuel System
• Denso 1000cc primary and secondary injectors
• OS Giken Triple Disk Ceramic HR Clutch and Flywheel
• HKS F-Con V Pro
• HKS Knock Amplifier
• HKS EVC 6 Boost Controller
• Racelogic Traction Control system

The 370Z started life as just a regular car with pretty much standard everything apart from the new wheels and lowering coilover suspension.

Now let the build begins!

First up is the engine tear down. With so much modification on the list, this build won’t be possible without an entire engine removal along with all accompanying parts, including the transmission. Basically, the entire engine bay and drive shafts needs to be stripped.

With the engine out, it is time to tear the engine down for some serious modifications.

Next is the turbo installation

Then comes the 3 inch GTM full dual exhaust system.

To spice things up, the 370Z is fitted with a full set of body-kit made by Zele and a rear wing from APR Performance. Carbon fibre panels have been used extensively to bring the weight down. These pictures are still not final as GTM is still working on the exterior of the car.

That’s the build process for part 1. Stay tuned for more updates on this amazing build as we unwrap this 1000 horsepower 370Z in the next couple of weeks.

Source: GTM Motorsport

The post Build: 1000 Horsepower Twin Turbo Nissan 370Z Part 1 appeared first on ForceGT.com.

The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 with a V12 6.5 litre engine develops 640 horsepower and is capable of rocketing you from standstill to a hundred kilometres per hour in just 3.4 seconds. It is probably one of the meanest supercars to greet the motoring world when it was released, like how a proper Lamborghini should.

But what if you take the already superb LP640, crank things up and make it even meaner and wilder? Introducing the twin turbo Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 from California based tuner SP Engineering. This bad boy is the end result of a build after months and months of research and development. The car actually belongs to the owner of SP Engineering, who prior to this build, thought that his LP640 was a bit pedestrian after getting his hands on a couple of highly boosted 600 all-wheel horsepower Nissan GT-R’s.

The aim of the build is to substantially increase the LP640’s power output while retaining the musical wonders of the 6.5 litre V12 engine and the elegant look of the standard LP640’s engine bay. And boy have they succeeded. Not only that the twin turbocharged v12 now produces 700 horsepower and 894 Nm of torque at all four wheels, the overall engine bay with the two turbos and all the necessary components is just a work of art. Utilizing all black fittings, an impressive amount of labor and love went into all the bracketry and fitment that is not seen but when examined makes others believe that Lamborghini’s engineers designed it themselves!

Soon after the completion of this project, SP Engineering received a request from an impressed customer wanting to do exactly the same setup on his LP640. The second build turned out just as good as the first one, but was completed in just half the time it took the first one as all the R&D work has been done.

Check out some videos of the turbocharged Lamborghini V12 in action and just listen to that sound!

These twin turbo LP640’s from SP Engineering are by far two of the best turbocharged Murcielago’s we have ever come across. I’ll just stop here and let the photos speak for themselves.

Source: SP Engineering

The post Build: 700 All-Wheel HP Twin Turbo Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 appeared first on ForceGT.com.

Nissan’s new generation VQ engines found in the 350Z, 370Z and the V Series Skylines have been widely praised for its smoothness and linear power delivery. When they first made appearance in the 350Z and 350GT Skyline, fans were doubtful of their tuning potential and whether or not they were built as tough as the older RB engines found in the R34, R33 and R32 Skylines.

Well here is an example that should prove the opposite. Shown here is a Twin Turbocharged Nismo 370Z built by GTM Motorsports. With the turbos spinning at a mere 9 psi, the boosted 370Z is capable of churning out 518 horsepower at the rear wheels, or almost 600 horsepower at the fly wheel. That is twice the amount of power of a standard normally aspirated 370Z.

The power comes from a GTM stage 2 twin turbo kit comprising the following components:

• Cast Ductile Iron Exhaust Manifolds And Turbine Housing
• Pre-Bent Stainless Steel Heat Shields
• Exhaust Manifold Install Hardware Kit
• 4-Ply High Resistance Nomex Silicon couplers
• Stainless Steel T-Bolt clamps
• 3.5 x 13 x 24 Bar and Plate Core  Intercooler Rated 1000hp
• GTM Steering Coupler
• Polished Stainless Steel and Tig Welded Piping
• Pre-made steel braided oil and coolant Supply & Return lines
• Garrett’s Twin ball bearing water & oil cooled turbocharger
• K & N Cold Air Intake System
• TiAL 50mm Blow-off Valve
• HKS Internal Wastegate Actuators (standard option) with Turn key kit
• Tial 38mm external Wastegate with GTM Downpipes (standard option) with Tuner kit
• All Necessary Hardware and Installation Instructions
• GTM Custom mapped plug-in And play engine management
• GTM  Basic fuel system with D enso 600cc Injectors and Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
• GReddy TI-C Dual Exhaust System

In addition to that, this 370Z also spots a few additional goodies and customised work which include an AFR gauge, a boost gauge, powder-coated piping, thermo-coated intercooler and ceramic-coated exhaust manifolds and hot side turbine housings/flanges.

This is the dyno graph of the 370Z before and after the build:

Check out the twin turbo VQ37VHR  in action in the video after the jump followed by pictures of the build.

Source: GTM Motorsports

The post Build: 518 Rear Wheel HP Twin Turbo Nismo 370Z By GTM appeared first on ForceGT.com.