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World's Fastest Ute Lands At Iconic Australian Events

HSV Maloo R8 Ute in Mobil 1 Drive Around Australia
- 36,000km Drive, Guinness World Record Holder


22 September 2006

35, 200km down, less than 1000km left!

The sixth and final leg of the Mobil 1 Drive Around Australia kicks off on Monday 25th September 2006. The five-month adventure will finish in a blaze of glory visiting two of Australia’s biggest motoring events and driving across one of our world-famous landmarks. 

The World’s Fastest Ute, the HSV Maloo R8, will head along Victoria’s West Coast on September 25th to Warrnambool and Hamilton before arriving in Mount Gambier then Adelaide. From there it’s straight across to Australia’s Ute Capital for the Deniliquin Ute Muster on 28th September.

The Ute Muster, an annual event since 1999, draws thousands of people and their Utes to the tiny New South Wales town of Deniliquin. This year’s Muster will be bigger than ever with an expected line-up of more than 6000 Utes.

From Deniliquin, the HSV Maloo Ute will head around country New South Wales visiting Wagga Wagga and Goulburn before landing in Sydney to meet an Australian icon: the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

The grand finale of this amazing journey will see the HSV Maloo Ute finally rest its wheels at the Great Race: the Bathurst 1000. Australia’s most famous race draws over 170, 000 race fans to Mount Panorama for the four-day event.

The arrival at Bathurst on 3rd October will see the HSV Maloo Ute complete its 36, 000km journey. The five-month Drive Around Australia was designed by Mobil Oil Australia to demonstrate the unique qualities of Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil. The entire drive has been undertaken without once changing the Mobil 1 engine oil.

In June, at the Woomera test facility, the Guinness World Records confirmed that the HSV Maloo Z Series R8, driven by Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife, had topped the world land speed record for a Ute, formerly held by a Dodge Ram SRT 10 in the US.

Although a significant highlight of the 36,000km drive, the world record run was just one component in a remarkable drive structured to demonstrate the full range of Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil qualities.

Mobil Oil Australia and its event partners, HSV and Repco, created the Drive Around Australia to incorporate a wide range of conditions, including mountain, desert and stop-go peak hour traffic.

Mobil chose to build the world record into the early stages of the drive to underscore the message that Mobil 1 provides outstanding performance under extreme conditions and can therefore be relied upon to protect engines under the much more moderate conditions faced by motorists in their everyday driving.

To demonstrate the unique qualities of Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil, the HSV Maloo Ute’s engine was sealed by the RACV at the start of the drive on May 12 and State auto clubs have been on hand during the drive to check and verify that the engine seals are intact. At the conclusion of the drive, at Bathurst in October, the engine oil will undergo Mobil Oil Australia laboratory analysis and total engine review. 

The Drive Around Australia has taken in Tasmania, Northern, Southern, Central, West, Northwest and parts of East Coast Australia. HSV and Repco outlets have been included as stopovers and the Maloo has generated much goodwill as a showpiece that illustrates the technical leadership and capabilities of the Australian automotive industry.

Mobil is proud to have Holden Special Vehicles and Repco as partners in the event.

Sixth leg (provisional) stops include:
Callaghan Motors, Warrnambool, Mon 25 Sept, 12.30am
Grange Burn Holden, Hamilton, Mon 25 Sept, 2.00pm
OG Roberts, Mount Gambier,  Mon 25 Sept, 4.30pm
Adelaide Southgate Holden, Adelaide, Tues 26 Sept, 7.00pm
Adelaide City Holden, Adelaide, Tues 27 Sept, 9.30am

Media Contact: Naomi Francis T: 03 9537 3311 E: naomi@ampr.com.au

Mobil 1 Drive Around Australia









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