The V8 Ute Racing Series, known originally as the V8 BRute Utes was an Australian motor racing series for

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

, derived from the

Australian Production Car Championship The Australian Production Car Championship is an Australian motor racing title for production car racing, production cars. The championship was first contested in 1987 and from 2008 to 2015 the title was awarded to the most successful driver in th ...

. It was conceived in 2000 by PROCAR chief and owner Ross Palmer, V8 Ute Patron Ian McAlister and Procar employee Craig Denyer and launched March 2001, as V8 Brute Utes, at the

Clipsal 500 The Adelaide 500, officially the BP Adelaide Grand Final, is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 and 2020 and again from 2022. The event uses a shortened form ...

in Adelaide. The series was instantly popular, in part because of aggressive driving style of competitors, a style encouraged by the use of reverse grid racing, but also because of its very fan friendly marketing which included gimmicks like referring to each of its drivers by a nickname. For most, V8 Utes Racing Series entry was via a franchise, which had been limited to 32 in number, 16 specifically to be

Ford Falcon (Australia) The Ford Falcon is a full-size car that was manufactured by Ford Australia from 1960 to 2016. From the XA series of 1972 onward, each Falcon and range of derivates have been designed, developed, and built in Australia, following the phasing out ...

XR8 Utes, 16

Holden Ute The Holden Ute (also known as The Holden Commodore Ute) is a coupe utility built by Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors, from 2000 to 2017. Before then, Holden had marketed their Holden Commodore, Commodore-based utility models ...

s. All the rounds were shared with

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

, Australia's top motorsport championship. Holden driver Rod Wilson was the inaugural series winner. Sydney's Warren Luff, took back to back victories in 2002 and 2003. Holden again returned to form in 2004 with

Damien White Damien White (born 11 March 1976) is a racing driver and motorsport administrator from Australia. Biography White began his motorsport career as a driver. Having spent his early seasons in Formula Ford and production car racing, he moved up to ...

taking the series title, before defecting to Ford and taking the title again in 2005 by a narrow margin to Melbourne's Marcus Zukanovic. Ryal Harris is the series most successful driver, becoming the first three-time series winner in 2015. Luff and White have each won two titles. The series covered eight rounds at various tracks throughout Australia. The reverse grid racing format was extremely popular with the race fans. Drivers have included former Australian NASCAR champion Kim Jane, actor George Elliot, country music singer Adam Brand, television host

Grant Denyer Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter. He previ ...

, driving instructor Gary Baxter, former Waratahs and

Australian Sevens The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and on ...

rugby union player

Ben Dunn Ben Dunn (born April 17, 1964) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Accessed February 1, 2011.WebCitation archive/ref> is an American comic book artist and publisher. Biography Dunn was born i ...

, former

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

and

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player Jack Elsegood who was also the 2009 series winner, and former Supercar drivers

Cameron McConville Cameron Eric "Conkers" McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConv ...

and

Nathan Pretty Nathan Pretty (born 7 July 1973) is an Australians, Australian racecar driver. Career He first rose to prominence racing Australian Stock Car Auto Racing, AUSCAR Superspeedway sedans (a Holden Commodore), becoming rookie of the year in his ini ...

. The Ford Falcon utility ceased production in 2016, the best year in racing, and the Holden Ute ceased production in 2017. As a consequence moves began to wrap the series up at the end of 2016, but the replacement, the

SuperUtes Series The SuperUtes Series (promoted as the V8 SuperUte Series) is an Australian pickup truck racing competition that was launched in 2018 as a successor to the V8 Ute Racing Series. The series' events are held as a support category to Supercars Champ ...

was not ready for a 2017 launch. SuperUtes, featuring turbo diesel powered dual-cab Utility vehicles, launched in 2018. The V8 Ute Racing Series was in most part successful given it was professionally managed by Category Management company SPHERIX. A Partnership formed by Bill West and Craig Denyer.

Series winners

Ford BF Falcon XR8 Ute 2010 Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series

;V8 Ute Racing Series ;Summer Series

Multiple winners

Drivers

Manufacturer

References

* CAMS �

* CAMS Manual �

* PROCAR �

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.v8utes.com.au/
NZV8 Ute Racing Series official website
V8 Ute Racing Series, Pickup truck racing series Auto racing series in Australia 10 Sport