Supercharged Chevrolet Silverado will be a rocket

A prototype version of the new Walkinshaw Performance-developed supercharged Chevrolet Silverado 1500 has posted a staggering sub-13sec 400-metre acceleration time during testing.

WP ran the locally-developed supercharged version of the full-size pick-up at Heathcote dragway in Victoria in mid-August and posted an image to social media noting the occasion.

However, it offered no details of performance achieved on the day.

It’s the latest tease of a vehicle carsales first reported in June 2020. Now after several delays, the kit is scheduled to go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Now, carsales has learned the best time was threatening mid-12s across the 400m (quarter-mile), although WP general manager Rick Perchold would only confirm it had broken the 13-second barrier.

That time puts the supercharged Silverado within coo-ee of the fastest model ever built by WP sister company HSV, the VF Commodore-based supercharged GTSR W1, which claimed a 12.1sec quarter.

It’s close to the VF-based HSV GTS as well, which officially claimed a 12.3sec 0-400m time.

“We were extremely pleased that it made it into the 12-second bracket,” said Perchold. “There was such smooth power out of the big truck, it’s quite surprising.”

The Silverado achieved the stellar time on all-terrain rubber, Perchold confirmed.

Outputs for the supercharged version of the L87 6.2-litre V8 are not yet finalised, with final testing still to be done, but carsales has previously suggested 500kW/850Nm – well up on the 313kW/624Nm outputs of the standard Silverado LTZ.

General Motors does not yet offer a supercharged version of the L87, although US media have published speculative reports a 6.2-litre blown V8 for the Silverado and other trucks is on the way.

The Silverado is remanufactured in right-hand drive guise for local distributor GMSV by Walkinshaw Automotive Group – of which Walkinshaw Performance is a member – at its Clayton campus.   

The supercharger is expected to be sold as a stand-alone aftermarket item rather than as part of one of the two Fury packs WP offers for the Silverado.

That’s because many prospective supercharger customers already have Fury packs fitted to their Silverados. WP also has more performance parts aligned with the supercharger coming in the future including high-flow headers, a cat-back exhaust and a cold air-intake.

The social media tease also gives a clue to the sourcing of componentry for the supercharger kit thanks to an engine cover shot that featured the Walkinshaw logo and Australian supercharging expert Harrop Engineering.

The Harrop range of superchargers utilises US Eaton Twin Vortices Series (TVS) technology. WP already employs TVS in its tune-up kits for Chevrolet LS3 V8-powered HSV models.

Pricing and complete performance information is yet to be announced for the WP Silverado supercharger kit, but it won’t come cheap.