Red Bull Racing Australia has officially unveiled a vehicle it calls a “top-secret project” ahead of the Castrol Edge Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars race this weekend. Project Sandman is a custom 700 horsepower VF Commodore which will take to the Queensland Street Circuit at the Gold Coast 600 to give fans and other attendees rides.
The special silver livery Commodore has two surfboards attached to its roof, a nod to Gold Coast 600, which is held in Surfer’s Paradise each year and awards the winner with a gold surf board. Red Bull says it started building Project Sandman in April of this year with the help of General Motors and the Holden Design Department.
Project Sandman is surprisingly advanced, with a six-speed electro-hydraulic paddle shift gearbox and F1-inspired fly-by-wire throttle control. Red Bull didn’t mention what kind of powerplant is under the hood, but a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 or a version of Holden’s 5.0-liter V8 Supercars engine seem like strong possibilities.
“We’re here after six months of development to reveal our secret project and what an honour to be a part of a Tribute Edition Sandman and have it race around the track this weekend,” said current V8 Supercars championship leader Jamie Whincup. “The heart and soul of the car is a V8 Supercar and it’s an absolute rocket!”
Holden’s Whincup has 2547 points in the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship, with Red Bull teammate Craig Lowndes in third with 2208 points. The Gold Coast 600 will kick off tomorrow with qualifying ahead of the races on Saturday and Sunday.
Comments
Is that a Ute with a cap?
Yes, there’s faux glass on the front end of the cap to give it the appearance of a shooting brake coupe, like the Coupe60 concept.
Still will be viewed as the worst decision GM made in 25 years to kill, especially as everyone now regrets pulling out of Oz production simply due to a short-term currency bump.
“…F1-inspired fly-by-wire throttle control.”
Uh, doesn’t the standard Commodore already have that?
I think the point was to tout that this was a rather stock car. Not a clean-slate car with a body kit/panels dropped atop it.
A closer to home case-in-point is the NASCAR Chevy SS, which is the only modern NASCAR – that is actually based on the production vehicle’s platform and underpinnings.