Saturday Sleuthing: GRM's V8 Supercar Ute

It's a car that will never race in the V8 Supercars Championship, but Garry Rogers Motorsport’s V8 Supercar-inspired Commodore Ute is one that sure has got readers of our V8 Sleuth’s regular Saturday Sleuthing series buzzing.

And today, in the final Saturday Sleuthing of the season, we can bring you the story on this unique beast.

We’ve had piles of emails over the last two years about this machine asking about its background and V8 Supercar connection, most recently from reader Nick.

“I was standing up around The Chase at Mount Panorama between 2002/04 (I cannot for the life of me remember which actual year it was!) after the Saturday events had finished and the Corporate Ride cars were out on track,” he writes.

“What was circulating grabbed my attention. It was a V8 Supercar Ute. It was a totally different beast in comparison to what we now see in the V8 Ute Series.

“I am almost certain that it was a gunmetal grey colour and that it was built by Garry Rogers Motorsport. 

“I was just wondering if you had or could pass on some more information about this?”

Well Nick and other readers such as Paul Geddes, Matthew Kittle and Jason Marks who have emailed about this car in recent years (yes, the V8 Sleuth keeps all of your emails!) – read on!

Back in 2001, GRM built a VU model Ute with V8 Supercar running gear to be used as part of Holden Motorsport’s marketing program as a ride and display car.

Given it was a Holden-backed team at the time (remember the team would build and run the mighty seven-litre Monaro Nations Cup cars in 2002/2003 on behalf of Holden), GRM was given the gig of creating a very unique beast.

The team used a lot of components from one of its ex-V8 Supercars – in fact an ex-Gibson Motorsport Commodore VS that had been raced by GRM and later leased out to the Ultra Tune team before returning to GRM’s workshop in Melbourne. 

That ex-Gibson chassis in fact was later restored as the Mark Skaife Team SEGA Commodore and has most recently changed hands and found a new home in Melbourne.

The striking Ute featured the engine, suspension, drive line, roll cage (albeit modified), brakes and electronics from a V8 Supercar and made its first public appearance in September 2001.

Dubbed ‘Thunder’, the new machine appeared on display at Bathurst a few months later and created quite the impression.

It’s had a long life at GRM and has been retained by the team ever since, regularly getting a run at team sponsor ride days giving fans and guests the thrill of riding in the closest thing you’ll get to a two-door V8 Supercar!

And it has a throwback too to the ‘old’ days of V8 Supercar racing with an H-pattern gearbox!

Regular social media users that follow Jack Perkins and Scott McLaughlin will have seen some images of the lads behind the wheel of the Thunder Ute this year at ride days.

“It’s pretty good fun,” McLaughlin told the V8 Sleuth.

“It’s great for sliding and some drifts and giving the guests a great thrill. It’s been a good workhorse and done a lot of laps over the years.

“It makes all the right noises for people going for a ride and I think it surprises them. Sometimes they’re a bit down in the mouth when they see they aren’t going for a ride in the actual race car, but in a way they get a better ride in the Ute anyway and they soon can’t stop grinning!”

‘Thunder’ is now painted black but what its future is now GRM is becoming the factory Volvo Polestar Racing squad in 2014 remains unclear. 

Regardless of its future, the Ute is one of those quirky and unique elements of V8 Supercar car history and, while not being a race-going V8 Supercar though featuring all of the necessary technical running gear, deserves its history to be recorded.

This is the final Saturday Sleuthing story for the 2013 season though the series will return in 2014 after V8 Sleuth Aaron Noonan takes a break over summer.

He’d like to say a massive thank you to all those who have read the Sleuthing series of stories, contacted him with questions or cars to find and generally offered their support online or at race tracks.

Keep the ideas, questions and requests flowing in over summer and check back in late January/early February for Saturday Sleuthing to rev back into life on v8supercars.com.au. 

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

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