Wulff Silhouaero

The **Wulff Silhouaero** is a series of Silhouettes appearing in *MotorStorm: Return to the Wild* created by The Cherrybomber.

## Details

The Silhouaero platform of Group 5 race cars all began life as a simple Wulff GRX-233, albeit with a sort of dorky-looking aero kit, with a rear brake bias and a positive camber on the rear wheels, while being composed of a steel monocoque chassis and a carbon fiber body, and being powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.8L Flat-6 that only produced 596 horsepower, with a five-speed manual transmission.

Upon being tested at Wulff's test track, the car managed to reach an impressive 198 miles per hour. It was about six months worth of development for the Silhouaero. With the 24 Hours of LeMans coming up, RSR bought three Silhouaeros to enter into the prestigious racing event. Four other notable competitors of the Silhouaero at the time were the Italia Cirrus HF, the Nova Turbo Shark, the Monarch Salmon, and the Patriot Blackwood. However, Patriot's Blackwood and Nova's Turboshark were too advanced for the Mk. I Silhouaero to match, seeing they all produced more horsepower and were more reliable platforms.

In 1977, Wulff went back to the drawing board with the Sillhouaero, where the body was upated with a sleeker aero kit, and a new single turbo 2.8L Flat-6 engine, which produced a hefty 740 brake horsepower. The positive camber on all four wheels was scrapped, seeing it would cause excessive snap oversteer, while the chassis was now a kevlar honeycomb monocoque, making the car lighter than its previous incarnation. When it came to the transmission, there was now a four-speed manual instead of the previous five-speed manual. The four-speed manual proved to be more reliable to getting to the car's top speed of 210 miles per hour.

Upon being entered into the 24 hours of LeMans again, with its brother platform, the Wulff Avoneer. With the Silhouaero being entered in the medium-weight class, The car managed to best the Monarch Salmon and the Nova Turbo Shark, despite still finishing a collective 1-2-3 finish in 4th, 5th, and 6th, to the Monarch GT1000, Voodoo Hoobastank GTR, and the Enthusia Fuoco Grigio.

In 1978, the Silhouaero's development was paused for the Avoneer and ASSC, despite plans for a 900 horsepower engine, even though the design was left stillborn. However, the 1977 model of the Silhouaero was raced in multiple smaller endurance races, such as the Mid Ohio 400, the 12 hours of Sebring and the 24 hours of Spa Francorchamps, where the cars managed to win.

In 1979, the Silhouaero was put back into development, with RS GmbH chipping in on developing the car, by fitting larger turbos and increasing the displacement from 2.8 liters to 3.2 liters, where the car was able to wield an unheard of 786 brake horsepower. The results were so impressive to the point where Wulff made three road-legal Silhouaeros, all three of which were quickly nabbed by anonymous collectors, only rarely showcased at car shows, such as the Concours D'Elegance in Monterey, California.

1980 was the final facelift and final phase of the Silhouaero's development, as negative camber was fitted to both the front and rear wheels, and the body was lengthened, and the engine was tuned to produce an unholy 815 brake horsepower. It went on to race not only in the 24 Hours of LeMans, but also raced in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, Spa Francorchamps, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, all of which were massive victories.

It was also planned to race in Formula Silhouette at the Fuji Speedway against the Italia Cirrus HF and various other Group 5 cars, such as the Tenrai Xylem HF Super Aerosolomie, but the event was cancelled to make way for the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.

## Trivia

* The general body shape is evidently based off of the Porsche 935, though the Mk. I has the fog lights of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III, and the taillights of an Olds 442 W-30.
* The Mk. II Silhouaero has the headlights of a Ferrari 512 BB, and the taillights of a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396
* The Mk. III Silhouaero however mostly resembles the "Moby Dick" version of the Porsche 935, but with a bigger rear wing and a much wider bodykit.