VP Commodore

The Holden VP Commodore was Holden's foundation car for the new 5.0-litre Group 3A touring-car formula. It was the front-line Commodore in 1993–1994 and, after the works teams moved to the VR Commodore for 1995, privateers kept the VP in the main championship right through to 1999. It replaced the Group A-era Commodore; this page describes the selected mid-1993 revised package.

A new formula

For 1993 Australian touring-car racing abandoned the international Group A rules for a home-grown 5.0-litre V8 category, and the VP Commodore and the EB Falcon became its two founding cars. The frozen formula fixed a naturally aspirated, fuel-injected 90-degree V8 of five litres, a 10:1 compression ceiling and a regulated 7500 rpm limit — the architecture every later Commodore state inherited. The selected car is the mid-1993 revised package, adopted after the category's opening races.

Body & aero

Group 3A mandated a large front spoiler with an inverted-wing undertray and a boot-mounted rear wing, and the VP wore a side-mounted rear wing — the arrangement the VR would later replace with a centre-post design. The selected state carries the extended undertray adopted mid-1993. Exact VP front-bar, undertray and wing dimensions are not documented from primary drawings, so the aero is described qualitatively only; surviving team cars are useful references but team-specific bodywork should not be promoted to a universal model specification.

Engine & driveline

Power came from a Holden 5.0-litre V8 derived from the outgoing Group A engine, driving through a Holinger six-speed. The live rear axle was located by a four-link and a Panhard rod on a Ford 9-inch-based housing (an F100 truck diff case) — the Watts-linkage rear of the VT had not yet arrived. The front was a MacPherson strut. Category minimum weight was 1300 kg.

Brakes, wheels & tyres

Wheels were the 17×11 category size, but early Group 3A cars ran various custom wheels rather than one make. Tyres were an open competition between Bridgestone, Yokohama, Dunlop and Hoosier rather than a single control fitment. Brake and pad choice followed team practice — Perkins Engineering, for instance, ran Ferodo DS3000 pads.

Evolution

The works teams moved to the VR Commodore for 1995 — which rebodied the same mechanical package with a centre-post rear wing — but privateers ran the VP on in the main series through to 1999.

For its championship record see the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Sources: Group 3A frozen 5.0L formula (Div C technical rules) and the V8 Supercars Physics Handbook (N. Higginson) for the mechanical package — Grade B; VP body and rear-axle specifics — Grade D.