When Mark Tunzelmann needed to shift his dirt bike around, he bought a ute. He just never intended it to cover the quarter in 10-seconds.

The ute started out just as a way of carting my dirt bike around,” claims Mark Tunzelmann. I’m pretty sure he’s having a laugh. Turns out he’s not.

“It stayed pretty standard for the first couple of years of ownership,” he says, almost apologetically.

Figures. There’s no way someone could use a boost-snorting, 10-second-capable 2004 Holden Commodore VZ ute as just a bike carrier.

Small steps

It’s a cliché, but modifying a car generally leads to a lack of coin and an end result you never thought you’d own the key to.

Mark also started with modest intentions. The original changes were low-key by modifying standards, comprising just an air intake, exhaust and a tune. While the gains weren’t ground-breaking, they were enough to have the LS1 mule delivering an easy 266kW at the wheels. (more…)