Those who follow Australian land speed racing or legendary car builder Rod Hadfield would be familiar with the Bronze Aussie, a VR Commodore-based land speed racer built by Rod way back in 2001.

Still looking very much like a Commodore, the car has set a tonne of records, with Rod’s goal always being to run 300mph in an Aussie-built car (initially with one of Rod’s own bespoke engines). Co-driver Lionel West and his family were gifted the car in 2016 when Rod retired from driving, continuing with his race number and the pursuit of 300mph.

That year, Bronze Aussie blitzed its class record by running 271mph at the Dry Lakes Racers Australia (DLRA) Speed Week event at Lake Gairdner in South Australia, clean-sweeping the previous record of 259mph. Since then, it has run a best of 295mph, faster than the 292mph currently held in the same class at Bonneville in the US.

The car suffered a significant rollover in 2018, but Lionel insisted on keeping its legacy going. The damage triggered significant changes being made to the Commodore’s body, with 600mm added to its length, the wheelbase extended by 200mm, and 150mm lopped off the roof height. The rebuild took five years to complete.

We recently headed down to QuickBitz in Dandenong, Victoria, to see Bronze Aussie on the dyno for a tuning session. The car runs an aspirated, Nankervis Performance Racing Engines-built 600ci big-block, and after making north of 800hp on methanol, Lionel and the crew were throwing some nitromethane fuel at the thing to shoot closer to 1000hp.

The engine will be coming out for a refresh at Nankervis, before Bronze Aussie heads back to Lake Gairdner for the 2026 DLRA Speed Week, which takes place 9-14 March. But for now, enjoy the video below.