The HG Holden Street Cruiser That Boasts A V8 Supercar Engine

Warren Eustace has been screwing together high performance engines for V8 Supercars for sixteen years, working with various teams over his career building the screaming V8s that have claimed no less than four victories at the nation’s most important race, Mount Panorama.

He’s also a verified street machiner, having twice taken home the silverware on the Summernats burnout pad behind the wheel of his ever evolving HQ Holden.

But it’s his most recent creation that’s piqued our interests; a super neat HG Holden sedan that he can cut some laps in with the family. But beneath its perfectly finished panels and understated exterior beats a small block Chev - the very kind that powered HRT’s Commodores when some of the sport’s most notable personalities were behind the wheel!

“The whole LS swap thing pisses me off!” he exclaims. “I’ve been building these Supercar engines for so long that it’s a part of who I am,” he explains of the decision to shove the race-proven engine into his street car.

“I put a piston with a full size skirt in to give it some more support in the bore, a slightly larger piston ring and dialed back the valve train a bit,” he says of the minimal modifications he made to make the engine more streetable, but by and large the combo is as it would have been in its HRT heyday.

“Setting the eight throttle manifold up to make it more drivable was a bit tricky, but we’ve got the converter which helps smooth it out and makes it pretty mild on the street,” adds Waz of the 600 angry ponies that protrude through the bonnet in the form of a K&N stack filter. “At times the induction noise through the eight throttles is louder than the exhaust!” he chuckles.

Since debuting the car, Waz and the family have put plenty of street miles in it, including a 150km lap through Melbourne’s CBD and the suburbs on Christmas Day. “We did the city, Docklands and something I’ve never done before - a lap of Chapel Street!” he laughs, nodding obviously to the famous inner city cruise route.

So what made a bloke who’s best known for his circuit racing engines and burnouts want to take on Street Machine’s mechanical torture test, Drag Challenge?

“I’ve always been a drag racer at heart - I haven’t done it for a while, but once you’re a racer you’re always a racer!” he beams.

“I think we’ll try and get in early and get our runs out of the way, then get on the road and enjoy the driving part of the event. We’ve got our trailer sorted and I’m borrowing from my Supercars experience in terms of packing lightly to go away racing, but by the same token we don’t want to leave anything behind that we might need. Our number one priority is just to finish the week, and we’re really looking forward to the camaraderie between the other entrants,” he adds.