Holden Colorado 2009 News

It will go on sale in the middle of this year with the highest hauling rating despite using a smaller engine than the Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara V6 and Toyota Hilux. Holden is yet to reveal the maximum payload, that is, the amount in can carry on the tray or in the ute back. The top-spec Colorado will run a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel generating 132kW and 470Nm. It works with a six-speed automatic transmission, which can handle the higher torque figure. Customers can also select a lower output version of the same engine, which makes the same amount of power, but has 30Nm less torque. This unit is available with a five-speed manual gearbox. The entry-level diesel option will be the smaller 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel with 110kW and 350Nm of torque, which will be hooked up to a five-speed manual. This smaller powerplant doesn't quite match that of the larger engine, but is still a fairly handy 3000kg. Holden has decided against offering up a petrol variant, as is the case with the just-introduced Ford Ranger. More details on the Colorado, including pricing, will be released closer to the launch, which has been delayed due to floods near the Colorado factory in Thailand. The company has disclosed the new model will be available in three body styles, a single cab, a space cab and family-friendly crew cab with the choice of 4x2 or 4x4. Key safety features will be standard on the new model, which shares the same base as the Isuzu D-Max but wears a different skin and runs unique engines, including electronic stability control (ESC). Holden says it will also install front and side curtain airbags to all Colorado models as standard equipment. In a bid to have interested customers hang-on until the new ute arrives, Holden is sending out display Colorados to dealers in April.

RETIRED V8 Supercar racer Paul Weel is going back to his motorsport roots with an all-out attack on the 2009 Australasian Safari.Weel began as an off-road racer and is heading back into the bush for the Safari, driving a V8-engined Holden Colorado.But there is a twist.He is doing the outback enduro in Western Australia with his father, Kees, as his co-driver. And their car is one that Weel Snr crashed in last year's Safari.Weel is so committed to success he even ran a 500-kilometre test last week, the first time he drove a competition car since a massive crash at Bathurst last year which could easily have been fatal. He was T-boned in his PWR Commodore at the top of Mount Panorama."I'm pretty excited. It's been quite a while since my Bathurst accident, so it's great to finally be back behind the wheel of a racing car again," Weel says."I'm learning how to drive on dirt again after so long racing V8 Supercars. You feel like you're going pretty quick, racing through the bush at 200km/h with trees flashing past on either side of you."The Safari begins a week from tomorrow, August 1, and covers 3600 kilometres from Perth to Kalgoorlie, with overnight stops in Geraldton, Mt Magnet, Leonora and Laverton.DAVID Wall continued his romp towards the Australian GT championship title when he swept two of three sports car races at Eastern Creek last weekend with his Porsche GT3 Cup S. The other star on the packed Shannons Nationals program was Mat Sofi, who broke through for his first win in Formula 3 while Tim Macrow reduced overseas raider Joey Foster's lead in the championship battle.CHAD Reed continues to lead the chase for the 450cc title in the AMA Pro Motocross championship following a 1-2 result at Millville last weekend. He is now 37 points clear on his Rockstar Suzuki with five rounds to run.NEAL Bates is looking for more speed this week from his Toyota Corolla as he prepares for the winner-take-all showdown with his former team-mate, and championship leader, Simon Evans at Rally SA next weekend. Bates knows Evans has a top-speed advantage with his Mitsubishi Lancer and has several tweaks to test in Canberra before packing for the trip to Adelaide and the last event of this year's national championship series.Off-road superstars Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki will tune up for next year's Dakar Rally by competing in the 2009 Australasian Safari with their Isuzu D-MAX ute in Western Australia. The five-time Safari winner was third last year and expects better in his latest beast thanks to engine upgrading, which he also believes will allow him to improve on his 11th overall in this year's Dakar in South America.FRENCHMAN Jamie Alguersuari will become the youngest driver to race in Formula One, at 19 years and 125 days, when he replaces Sebastian Bourdais in the Toro Rosso team at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is a former British Formula 3 champion who was groomed through the Red Bull young driver academy.CHRIS Atkinson is back in Monaco to try and revive his stalled career in the World Rally Championship, including a start in his home event, Repco Rally Australia, in September. His trip to Europe included a stopover in the USA to visit Ken Block, a Subaru driver who also stars in the X-Games, perhaps pointing to more American action for the speedy Australia.DANIEL Ricciardo continues to lead the race for the British Formula 3 championship despite finishing slightly off the pace in both races at Donington Park last weekend. The young Aussie was quickest in qualifying but fell back to seventh in the first race before recovering for third, but in the second heat could do no better than fifth with the Carlin Motorsport team.THE son of John Surtees, the only racer to win world championships on both two and four wheels, was killed last weekend in a Formula 2 crash in Britain. Henry Surtees had taken his first F2 podium at Brands Hatch in the first of two heats, but died after being hit in the head by a wheel from another car that crashed in the second race.