Let’s be honest, an HSV Senator isn’t going to threaten tuned-up Golf Rs or an R35 GT-R for the outright win, but the big, luxurious, five-seat, family-size rig did bloody well in tough, rain-slicked conditions.

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A sign of how easy it is to liberate power out of the 6.2-litre factory supercharged LSA V8: the bolt-on Gen-F2 HSV made 421kW at the wheels, only 29kW behind the event’s horsepower king, Hi-Torque’s R35 GT-R. And that is through a power-sapping 9L90E six-speed automatic transmission!

The Senator was third-fastest to 100km/h at 4.13sec, trailing the BWA Golf R and R35 GT-R, while a towering burnout saw Kent Dalton drop the HSV’s standing 400m time to 11.76sec and a blistering 211km/h through the traps.

Hi-Torque Performance HSV Senator rear

Unfortunately it couldn’t overcome its family car roots, weight and sheer size blunting performance on the South Circuit. Tony D’Alberto stopped the clocks at 1:05.7sec to finish seventh, a mere 0.1sec behind the VCM C63 AMG.

That result confirms the HSV is neither slow nor a drags-only straight-line warrior. Still, when the rain came down as we went out to drive, I started bargaining with celestial beings so as not to end up backed into a concrete wall. I needn’t have worried because the Senator was amazingly easy to steer.

Hi-Torque Performance HSV Senator turning

It really shows just how good a package the supercharged Gen-F2 HSVs are that they need only minor fettling to create what is a fast, reliable and comfortable machine you could almost mistake for a factory product if not for the ride height. I couldn’t even tell the black beast had an aftermarket camshaft !

My daily driver is a lightly-tuned VF1 SS-V ute, so a mildly modified late-model HSV isn’t a world away from what I am used to driving most days of the week. If I’m honest I have never wanted for power out of my little 6.0-litre, but the way the supercharged LSA V8 and Hi-Torque’s added mods deliver its power had me looking at power upgrades the very next day. The flexibility the Senator offered – from family man to tyre-frying hooligan and back in a seamless transition – was intoxicating.

Hi-Torque Performance HSV Senator engine

This is a car you could easily lap Australia in (if you could find E85 on the Nullabor), with your whole family enjoying supreme comfort, great ride quality, good road-holding, excellent brakes, great handling and steering. Harding and the Hi-Torque boys might be known for insane street machines but this lightly-tuned Senator shows sometimes less is more.

OVERALL RANKING: 7TH

DISCIPLINE RANKING 7th | Lap time: 1:05.7sec 2th | Lap V-Max: 161.04km/h 8th | Lap V-Max: 98.14km/h 5th | Lap V-Max: 51.34km/h

Hi-Torque Performance HSV Senator side