Bolwell supercar lives again

One of the classic names from Australia’s sports car past, Bolwell, is now part of its future.

An all-new Nagari supercar is about to tackle the world as Campbell Bolwell continues a passion for fast cars that led him into the business more than five decades ago.

His new hero car is the Bolwell Nagari 500, which packs a 372kW V8 engine into a super-lightweight two-door coupe body, and has been completed just in time for a preview at Motorclassica in Melbourne next week.

“Everyone is going to ask ‘how fast, and how much and when can I have one?’, but I honestly don’t know the answers,” Bolwell laughs as he reveals the Nagari details to carsales.

“We haven’t been testing it yet. Or costing it. We’ve only going to be giving it a preview.”

The original Nagari was a brawny front-engined V8 sports car with a fibreglass body, officially known as the Bolwell Mk7, but the new car is light years ahead in every way and wears the 500 tag - not Mk10 - because it packs about 500 horsepower.

But Bolwell says the real key to its performance is a lightweight build that means it hits the scales at just 1000kg.

That’s partly down to Bolwell Corp. technology, using closed-moulding vacuum-infusion to create the occupant safety cell and much of the bodywork.

The car also has classic dual-wishbone suspension, 19-inch alloys with giant brakes and a luxury cabin in addition to a Chevrolet LS3 V8 engine.

Even without test results, Bolwell is claiming a 0-100km/h sprint in less than 3.0 seconds and a top speed beyond 300km/h.

For Bolwell, who has developed the car with his brother Graeme and long-term team member Ross McConnell, there is a simple reason for the creation of the new Nagari.

“It’s a passion. There is no other reason for it. It’s just my passion,” he says.

“And it also displays some of the new technology we’ve been working on with our business. We have a factory in Thailand, employing about 90 people.

“Bolwell Corp. has many heads, with about 10 companies. There is property and all sorts of stuff. The car is my own personal little area that I concentrate on, and we develop the technologies through all this.”

Bolwell says he cannot wait to drive the car, but also acknowledges that his sports cars have been a big winner for the whole Bolwell organisation.

“The fact that we are known for our cars is opening the doors. All the local contracts with people like Kenworth come from the cars. We are tied to the image of the cars we have created.”

He says the new car marks a number of anniversaries but has a bigger role going forward.

“It’s 60 years since I built my first car, the Mark I, and I’ve been in business for 56 years.

The Nagari we’ve got at the moment is for the 50th anniversary of the first Nagari we built.

“And this is Australian. And we’re as good as anybody else. We have innovation tools here that are unsung.”

Bolwell says he is prepared for production of the Nagari 500 but is not sure yet how it will go.

“This is only the first preview of the latest one. They are designed for production.

“We could build a half-dozen here, but if you want to do anything bigger it’s got to be funded differently.

“Even now there are rumours from overseas that they want to buy some volume. But we can’t afford that.”

Even so, he is happy to pump up the tyres for his new creation.

“The benefit of the car is that it’s so light. it weights less than 1000 kilograms, with more than 500 horsepower, so it’s a true supercar.

“We are pretty happy with it. I’m going to enjoy driving it.”

“I cannot answer any of those questions. We think we will get it release sometime next year. That’s the goal.”