I’ve been waiting to drive Valtteri Bottas’s Holden ute for ages, and the day is finally here. I’ve already been on one exciting adventure, and I’m eager for more. I’m stoked to meet some fans of The Autopian tonight, too!
I picked up the ute this morning from Southbank. I was not at all surprised that Bottas himself wasn’t there for the handover. He’s presumably working out somewhere overseas ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. Instead, it was left to a charming young man to hand over the keys and walk me through the ute’s various features and accessories.
I was pretty surprised to find the ute has most, if not all the wacky features we saw in the initial video. And a surfboard! We’ll explore more in a future post, but I can at the very least confirm there is both a pie warmer and clothesline on board.
For my first drive, I decided to head out to Albert Park, otherwise known as the site of the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix. I got right out on the track! They’re currently in the process of dismantling the street circuit, but most of the grandstands and fencing was still up.
I snapped some pics with the Pirelli ads for the hell of it. Doing the chicane was probably my favorite part, even if I only hit 3o mph. I’m tempted to pop the bike off the back of the ute and cycle the whole circuit tomorrow. That just seems like it’d be super fun.
Once behind the wheel, I found the ute was in great shape, if low on fuel. The 2012 Holden Commodore Ute is an Omega trim equipped with the V6. It’s not a rocketship, but it’s got plenty of pep for daily use. Aussie cars never really let you down on torque and drivability.
I’m going to tour around Melbourne a while longer today, before heading to our meet-up later tonight. It’s 7 PM tonight at the Port Melbourne Bunnings, full details here. You should come! You might even score some ridiculous Bottas merch. This is all a big advertising campaign for Uber, after all, and the ute did come with some swag.
I’m greatly enjoying the Melbourne weather and should probably get off my laptop and back behind the wheel. If I don’t catch you at the meet tonight, look out for more on the Holden soon. Same car writer, same car channel. Lewin out.
Image credits: Lewin Day
You’re writing to a group of people whose fashion sense can generally be described as “10W-30”. I doubt I would have even noticed the shoes if you hadn’t pointed them out. 😀
Look at the very least I know Adrian’s around potentially checking up on my goth cred so I have to be sure
That steering wheel cover is just so … well. This is great, though, because until you began writing about the Bottas Holden, I had to watch public television reruns of “McCleod’s Daughters” to get my weekly ute fix.
They had a box of them and put on a fresh one for me which I thought was overkill hahaha
Sanitized for your protection.
Great stuff!
The best line in the article is the one about enjoying the Melbourne weather (it’s been cool, cloudy and wet here this week).
And where’s the pic of the pie warmer, may I ask?
I’m just impressed it has a Roo Bar.
why, oh why, can’t we have cool utes like this in America??? I, am for one, jealous
Don’t feel bad about your lap speed.
Kick/Saubers pit stops are so slow that in the end Bottas barely averaged more than you around the track.
They really need to sort their pitstops. It’s a disgrace.
This is fun. Glad you got your hands on it. Enjoy!
It may only be the V6, but I have a deep seated need to see that ute doing a big, smoky burnout!!
I wish I could do that without walking away in cuffs ????
To be fair – nothing more Australian than a dodgy burnout in a V6 Holden
Years ago when I worked as a security guard at the National Australia Bank Head Office we sometimes had a V6 Commodore instead of the usual Camry wagon they provided to patrol the various office buildings around the inner city. Usual procedure when siting at a red light at 3am in the Commodore was to see how slow a single-wheel burnout you could manage. About 10rpm of one rear wheel was possible.
But when neither car was available I had to use my own car, which at the time was a V8 4 speed Leyland P76 with big tyres, loud exhaust, matt black paint and flames. It was a LOT of fun to hoon sideways through deserted city centre streets at 2-3 am!
Nice! Bit of brake and smashing the loud pedal would do it, I imagine?
Time for a shed skid
Maybe in an AU Falcon with alloys on the front and steelies on the back!