THE very first VE Commodore V8 Ute race car built for the highly popular category by Brock Race Engineering has popped up on the market as part of an online auction.
The Ute – VE001 – was the first VE produced by James Brock’s business in Footscray, Melbourne for the championship and made its race debut in 2008 when the VE debuted in the series.
WATCH: A close up look of the VE001 VE Commodore V8 Ute:
The car was raced by South Australian Gary Baxter for a number of years under the Sage banner and won the Winton round in 2008 (as pictured in image at bottom of this story) and Adelaide round in 2009.
It last raced in the category in 2017 in the hands of Layton Barker and competed in a whopping 72 rounds of V8 Ute competition.
That 2017 season was the last year of the V8 Ute Series that dated back to the V8BRutes category that debuted in 2001 run by PROCAR.
With 11,282km on the clock, the six-litre V8-powered Ute up for auction is a prime example of the cars that typified the highly popular form of racing.
Many of the V8 Utes from the Australian series were sold off to New Zealand, however some remain in the hands of various collectors and former V8 Utes racers in Australia.
The ex-Baxter car comes in a V8 Utes Australia celebratory livery and even includes imagery of the car’s amazing history via its logbook as part of a special hardlid design!
The car is located in Tasmania and the Pickles auction runs until 8pm on ANZAC Day, Tuesday April 25.
Click here for more information on the auction and to bid.
