Holden Smashes A Nurburgring World Record…Sort Of


Holden claims that its new VF Ute smashed a world-record at the insane Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, but we’re not so sure.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea that the Aussie ute is out there as a world-beater, but we have to take a look at this record carefully.

As you may — or may not — know, the Nürburgring is a massive track in Germany designed to test the mettle of new sports cars and sport bike. Renowned for its crazy length, tough corners and punishing surfaces, the Nürburgring is actually open all year round as a toll road. Bikes, tourists and ordinary road cars can clog up the Nürburgring on a normal day, making it a drag for a track enthusiast. The track is 170-turn, 25-kilometre speedfest famous for 24-hour races, F1 trials, fierce lap records and as a development centre for new consumer sports cars.

Holden claimed today that its new VF SS V Redline Ute smashed a world-record on the track, completing it in 8:19.47 around the 20.8km Nordschleife section of the track. Record or not, that’s an impressive result by anyone’s test, but back to the claim.

The Aussie auto-maker said in a blog post today that the time was good enough for the SS V Redline to qualify for world-record status around the gruelling track, but reading further on makes you wonder a little whether or not that’s true. Turns out that it all comes down to the category in which you classify the VF SS V Redline Ute.

Holden did a bit of digging before it went to Germany and found that no lap record existed for vehicles in the commercial or utility vehicle class, so it found itself with an ample opportunity to set one.

Rob Trubiani, a Holden Dynamics Engineer, was at the wheel of the ute during its run around the Nürburgring, and he said that Holden smashed its own performance estimates by figuring out what the ute should do around the track, before aiming to beat it by 10 seconds. The ideal target was 8:30, meaning the time that the team had to break was 8:20. With a blistering 8:19.47, the Holden team beat its own target by a hair.

So Holden didn’t “break” any records at the Nürburgring: it’s the new benchmark for performance utes. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! [Holden via EFTM]

Thanks to shieldagentstark for the video link.


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