Aussie Holden fanatics have been left awestruck by a new clip of a VF Commodore being put through its paces around the Nürburgring Nordschleife as it hit speeds of up to 230km/h on the famously taxing circuit.

The vision comes from racing driver turned Nürburgring instructor and automotive content creator Misha Charoudin, who has attracted more than two million followers to his YouTube channel as he throws cars of all types around the 20km stretch of tarmac known as the ‘Green Hell’.

Split-screen driving scene: track ahead from the cockpit, with a driver in the left seat and dashboard gauges visible (speed ~46 mph, tachometer ~85 km/h).
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“In a world of 7-Series and E36s, this is freaking awesome,” he tells viewers at the start of the clip as he examines the US-spec, left-hand-drive, Chevy-badged sedan (pictured above). It’s a 2014 model running the LS3 V8 with slight modifications to the air intake and exhaust, but with stock mufflers. New sway bars had also been added front and rear.

After revealing that he “always had a soft spot for Commodores” and has driven a Holden V8 Supercar on a previous trip to Australia, Charoudin praises the VF’s rear end for being “nice and twitchy but really controllable”. He wasn’t as pleased with the “really understeery” front, however.

Conditions were a little wet when Charoudin began his lap by announcing that he loves the engine’s “amazing” growl. The all-season tyres fitted to the VF are soon being worked to their limit as he jokes, “We’re doing Bathurst! We need to escape the roos, the skippies – and the black widows and stuff.”

The Russian-Dutch ‘Ring expert quickly finds the limits of the stock brakes – “there’s not a lot happening there” – and at one stage passes a new Mustang like the Ford is standing still. The Commodore easily powers to 230km/h on the straights but the understeer rears its head frequently, as does power oversteer, which Charoudin absolutely laps up.

Speed, g-forces and the tachometer are all there to see in the clip, but viewers can’t get a clear idea of Charoudin’s lap time, which isn’t displayed and would have been harmed when he had to slow down for marshals and yellow flags during the lap. For what it’s worth, a VF Commodore SS ute steered by test driver Rob Trubiani recorded a lap of 8m 19.47 seconds in 2013.

Charoudin throws the VF into the famous banked Carousel corner instead of taking the outside line around the bend, and he frequently eats Audis, Mercedes-Benzs and BMWs for breakfast thanks to that thumping bent eight.

“I really loved it,” he says at the end of the lap. “Honestly, even though it’s on all-season tyres and you have no grip, it was nice to play a bit … it’s a great daily [driver]. Like, I still have a silly dream, I really want to buy a ute, a Holden Commodore ute with an LS7. Frigging good car.”

Man driving a car on a highway, wearing a seatbelt and racing-style gloves; road ahead visible through windshield.
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“I freaking love Australia. And hate it for killing Holden. What a fun car,” he added when he posted an abridged version of the lap to Instagram.

Aussie petrolheads were just as happy and nostalgic after watching the clip, which has clocked up close to 600,000 views on YouTube.

“Still can’t believe we don’t build cars here anymore,” one commenter said on YouTube. Another wrote, “Proud Aussie bogan here, so good to see you in one of these even if I’m struggling seeing it in left-hand drive.”

But not all the applause came from Down Under. One American fan wrote, “I wish I never got rid of my [Pontiac] GTO. Aussies know how to build a car. I want this car.”