Cars >> HPF Cars >> Calais V

Holden - VE Calais V

LATEST UPDATE

The Calais had some extractors bolted on, diff gears changed and some drag radials put on and ran consistent 12.6 second passes at the LS1 Drag Nats at Heathcote.

THE STORY

The newest edition to the HPF stables is this VE Calais V driven by Rob. Delivered brand new in late Jan 08 the Calais came complete with leather interior and a 6ltr V8. The build plan for this vehicle is to produce a first class luxury tourer, a car that you can take to the drags Friday night, the kids to sports Saturday, a country drive Sunday and to work again on Monday.

In order to make the car more luxury cruiser and less bank manager, Rob had it had been debadged, windows tinted, lowered and fitted with 22” rims, all within a few days of delivery! Now that the Calais looked the piece it was time to sort out getting so more performance out of the lazy 6 litres of V8. The final upgrade path is still yet to be decided, but for now a little bit of tinkering would suffice. This also gives HPF a chance to go through the range of upgrade packages to continue previous research.

First up was a tweak of the tune. Standard the Calais produced around the 210rwkw mark. With just some work on the tune and no other mechanical changes it rolled off a 217rwkw on the dyno.

Next an over the radiator cold air intake (OTRCAI) was fitted and the mass airflow meter (MAF) was deleted and the tune modified to suit. This bumped the recorded power output up to a respectable 227rwkw.

The docile tone of the factory exhaust system may suit the bank manager image but HPF certainly isn’t a bank! A cat back system was bolted on, and while it certainly looks the part it also gives the Calais a note that is undeniably V8. From past experiences a cat back system typically gives negligible performance gains on most cars but on the VE it shocked all by bringing power up to 234rwkw. This is clear proof that the factory system is much more restrictive on VE’s that previous models.

At this stage it was time to get the time slips to back up the dyno numbers. Out to Calder Park and a best time of 13.302 @ 170.7km/h was recorded. This was in full street trim, with 22” wheels and baby seat in the back. Traction was the limiting factor this time around with any attempt at a stalled launch resulting in masses of time robbing wheel spin.

We’ll bolt some stickier tyres on and try for a decent launch next time we get the Calais out at the track. Stay tuned…………