(Photo credit: Street Machine Magazine) – We have to give total and 100% credit for this tip to our pals at Street Machine Magazine, the great Australian car magazine. These guys are following the build of a one off super car that must be seen to be believed. Paul Halstead is the guy behind the project and he has some of the brightest guys in Australia working on the thing. It will have the swoopy super car looks you expect, the exotic shapes that have come to define such things but it will have something you did not see coming in the form of a V16 engine made by linking two Chevrolet LS7 v8s together! The amazing drivetrain is absolute and utter mechanical art. There’s CNC machining in spades and the types of beefy, industrial strength, one-off stuff that only a fat wallet and amazingly skilled minds can create.
Halstead has been part of the Aussie car scene for decades, building a limited run of specialty sports cars in the 1980s and losing millions of bucks in the process. Unlike other guys who continue to follow the same path, Halstead has no such interest. As you will see in the story linked below, he wants to build ONE of these cars and enjoy it. There s no plan for a production run…at this point. We say that because Halstead would like to take the car over to the states on a publicity tour of sorts, vying for a Ridler Award at the Detroit Autorama and wowing the massive crowds at SEMA. That sounds like it may be a little bit of an exploratory deal to see if anyone is interested in their own copy but that’s just our natural suspicion of everything on Earth bleeding through.
Street Machine has the whole story of the man and his dream car at the link below. We’re not going to steal their thunder so hit the link and get a look at the drawings, renderings, and the mechanical porno that is this amazing drivetrain. The only thing we cannot see that we want to is the inside of the transfer case/transmission. Imagine how this is going to sound?!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL STORY AT STREET MACHINE MAGAZINE
There’s no kill like overkill!
Technically that wouldn’t be a V16. I guess you could say it’d be closest to a W16 but the fact that you have two separate cranks really just makes it 2 V8s
It is a W16, read the article. Bangshift obviously didn’t.
I read the article and couldn’t determine if the engines are counter-rotating, as in some boats.
2 times 515 equals 1030, right? The article says 1200.
An LS7 can make 700 NA no issue. I’m surprised they’re only shooting for 1200 hp.
I want to see inside the T-case. Chain allowing both engines to turn the same direction or a gear set up?
Venom
closer to a w16 indeed but I would assume with the fab work involved those ls7’s are bored/stroked to the max. I mean if you’re going to go as far as doing this type of build you may as well build the engines while you’re at it. shoot after he gets it settled go quad turbo, or 400 shot of nitrous. (2 stage 200 shots)