There's any number of vehicles we'd recommend for a romp around the Nürburgring: an exotic sports car, a high-performance sedan, a track car. But a pickup? Hardly our first choice. But that's exactly what GM's Australian division Holden has done with its VF SS V Redline Ute.
Okay, so we're talking about an El Camino-style pickup car (or "Ute" as the Aussies call them) and not a pickup truck (like a Chevy Silverado or Ford F-150), and the record isn't official. But Holden is claiming it lapped the Nordschleife in 8:19.47—faster than any commercial or utility vehicle to date.
That lap time—run the full distance, not just bridge-to-gantry—most definitely makes it faster than the Revo-tuned Volkswagen T5, whose 9:57.36 lap time, as we reported just over a week ago, claimed the record for the fastest van at the 'Ring. It also puts it in serious performance territory, just behind the Renaultsport Mégane R26.R that previously held the front-drive record and ahead of the six-cylinder E46-gen BMW M3 that was born there.
The Ute was driven by Holden dynamics engineer Rob Trubiani, who harnessed the VF's 6.0-liter V8 and its 350 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque to come in a solid 11 seconds faster than the team's own predictions heading into the endeavor.
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