Holden's new VF Commodore-based Ute is the world's fastest "utility, pickup or any other commercial vehicle" on the Nurburgring, the Australian automaker has revealed.
While it can hardly be described as a pickup truck, the Holden Ute is indeed classified as a Light Goods Vehicle and its new Nurburgring lap time puts it ahead of the other "similar" trucks that have been raced on the famed track - the Dodge Ram SRT10 and the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. However, this is the one and only official benchmark of this type.
The record run, which stopped the clock at 8m19.47s was achieved with the company's dynamics engineer, Rob Trubiani, behind the steering wheel.
"Without a lap record to break, we sat down and calculated what we thought the Ute could do and targeted around 8min 30sec. Initial practice sessions at the track confirmed that was a stretch target so that's what we aimed for. To slash 11 seconds from that time with an 8m 19.47sec lap was incredible. There may not have been a utility-vehicle record before but I'm proud to say the VF SS V Redline Ute is now the Nürburgring benchmark!" said Trubiani.
Fortunately, Holden captured the entire lap on video, so you can scroll below to watch the 349 HP Ute put all that muscle on the track.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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