The new Holden VF Commodore Ute has lapped Germany’s famous 21km Nurburgring circuit in about 8 minutes, 20 seconds as part of a promotional stunt for the new-generation model.
It’s understood the run conducted in late April will form part of an advertising campaign for the ute after Holden took to the renowned, ultra-long track that hosted Formula One races until 1976 before becoming used by car manufacturers for dynamic benchmark testing,
The VF Commodore SS V Redline Ute Nurburgring effort has yet to be announced by Holden, though CarAdvice has learned about the attempt from reliable sources while General Motors boss, and former Holden managing director, Mark Reuss has revealed via social media that he was not only in attendance but had driven the ute.
News Ltd has also reported the actual lap time based on insider information, though says a time of 8min 21sec set on the first day of testing may have been improved slightly on the second day.
CarAdvice revealed the first spy pictures of the Holden Commodore SS-V Redline Commodore Ute driving flat out at the Nurburgring earlier this month, though at the time Holden denied it was doing anything other than final dynamic evaluation for VF despite being queried about its unexpected presence.
It’s not yet clear why the Holden SS-V Ute was chosen for the run rather than the faster HSV Maloo that goes on sale mid-year not long after the regular VF Commdore models.
The Holden Commodore SS-V Ute is powered by a 270kW 6.0-litre V8 engine whereas the HSV Maloo features a 6.2-litre V8 producing 317kW of power.
The Holden Ute’s lap time is more than one and a half minutes slower than the vehicle that holds the current record at the ‘Ring – the Radical SR8 that circulated in just 6 minutes and 48 seconds.
Holden’s ute is inherently disadvantaged by the unequal weight distribution of its vehicle design, though it was only a second slower than a Chevrolet Camaro SS that sits on the same, Holden-developed ‘Zeta’ platform.
However, it still sits behind cars such as the RenaultSport Megane Trophy (8:08) and Subaru WRX STI (7:55).
