The war between Ford and GM raging down under continues with the ferocity as it has always been. The latest of war moves was taken by Ford Australia when they dropped a load of forced induction all over its delectable Falcon GT. This was to give Holden (aka GM) a kick down under. The effect though did not bring about results as Ford had expected or hoped for. The reason was the absence of any cosmetic changes to the car as such and this was so as they had spent their entire budget behind the development of the engine itself.
Ford Australia and Prodrive who own the Ford Performance Vehicles were looking for a suitable replacement for their 5.4 liter vehicle that was about to retire.
With discussions leading them nowhere they finally settled upon adding the supercharger to their 5.0 liter unit. This necessitated some other additions and alternation to the engine like cooling/fuel delivery, adding and active exhaust and such similar other modifications.
That having been completed the 5.0 liter V8 now delivers 335 kW or 449 hp of peak power and 570 Nm or 420 lb ft of torque. This is 10 kW or 13 hp more than the HSV which is the specialty vehicle by Holden. They have however declared that their Falcon GS models would come with a power plant that delivers a power output of 315 kW or 422 hp and 550 Nm or 406 lb ft of torque, which is lesser than the power of the HSV models. This declaration is quite surprising for Australian car makers who have the habit of talking the pole and then delivering the equator in most car manufacturing process.
Whatever be the reason, there is however a fact in the saying that Australian performance cars have been hauling ass for a long time and don’t appear to be making any attempt to slow down.
Whatever be the mix turbocharged in line sixes or supercharged V8s the place to be for speed in cars is down under.
Source: carscoop
