Seven-second IRS VE Commodore ute

Since we first checked out Matt Whiting’s VE ute, he has gone on to set the record for Australia’s quickest street-driven VE-VF Commodore, with a best of 7.8 seconds at 182mph.

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And now it could be yours! Matt has the car up for grabs, complete with a refreshed 427 LSX by Warspeed with 1000km on the clock, and a Haltech Nexus R5 VCU. Check it out here before it goes!

The story to here, March 2020

Matt Whiting snagged his Commodore ute when it was virtually brand new, using it as a daily driver in stock form for a short while. After fitting a new exhaust, the Queenslander treated the VE SS to a new turbocharged donk and Turbo 400 transmission. In this guise, the ute was good for a 9.9-second ET, but Matt wasn’t done there.

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These days, the ute hides an LSX 427 mill with Callies crank, forged rods and pistons, BTR camshaft, and six-bolt heads. Don’t be fooled by the GTX45 number plates, either - Matt’s now running a whopping 94mm Garrett GTX55 snail. The whole shebang is good for 1500hp.

Controlled initially by the factory ECU, the ute ran a best of 8.4 down the quarter mile. Shifting to a Haltech Elite 2500 set-up, Matt managed to cut his PB down to 8.0 without any mechanical tweaks.

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Living four hours away from the nearest strip, Matt knew the ute had to be both reliable and street legal to handle long road legs without hassle. A Haltech rotary boost dial and side-pipe cut-off valve do wonders for the ute’s streetability, as does the lower first gear provided by the Turbo 400.

Watch Matt cruise the streets to prove the Commodore’s utility as a daily driver. He even passes the ultimate test by making a legible McDonald’s drive-through order!

The ute was entered in the now-cancelled Drag Challenge Weekend 2020; let’s hope we see Matt in action at a future DC event.

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