TWO OF AUSTRALIA’S greatest performance offerings, exported to the UK for sale as the Vauxhall VXR8 and the Vauxhall Maloo, were the stars of this week’s Top Gear UK.

The VXR8 - sold locally as the popular HSV Clubsport R8 - is the special Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst Edition. This particular model isn’t offered in Australia, and packs a Walkinshaw Performance supercharger under the bonnet.

The Vauxhall Maloo, on the other hand, is more or less identical to HSV’s Maloo ute available to Aussie red camp fans.

Click through to see presenter Richmond Hammond giving both cars a hiding at Top Gear’s test track in the UK.

The Bathurst S uses a Walkinshaw 122 supercharger to boost power from the 317 kW up to 417 Kw (560hp), while torque jumps from 550 Nm (405lb-ft) to 715 Nm (527lb-ft).

The Maloo, lacking the supercharged boost of the VXR8 Bathurst S, develops the same 317kW and 550Nm of the Clubsport R8.

“Strictly speaking, because it’s Australian, this isn’t a pickup. It’s a ute. The price tag sounds like a lot, but you haven’t seen yet how it can… enrich your life,” Hammond says of the Maloo.

Click here to read TMR’s review of the 2009 HSV Clubsport R8.

GALLERY » 2009 HSV Maloo

GALLERY » Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst Edition