Germans are crazy about cars. They are, after all, the ones who invented the modern motor vehicle, and to this day Germany is known for designing and producing the best cars on the planet in terms of engineering and overall quality. It comes as little surprise then that the UPS automotive team at the Hanover hub in Germany would come up with the idea of taking a 17-year old P60 package car with 600,000 kilometres on the clock under UPS colours and turning it into the beast you see before you.

It now has a 6.3 litre V8 engine developing 425 hp and a top speed of some 190 kph/120mph, with additional modifications made to improve performance. Meanwhile, a competition was held in conjunction with the Mediadesign Academy in Dusseldorf to come up with the stunning graphics that adorn the bodywork. The finished article was unveiled at the Essen Motorshow and has subsequently appeared at racing circuits around Germany.

Now personally, I try to do my bit for the environment. I don’t drive a hybrid to work at the UPS Europe office in Brussels because I think my bike is much greener. But I’m also a motorsport enthusiast, and yes, the thought of 425 horses slurping away at 6.3 litres of high-octane petrol beneath the bonnet of a UPS package car does get my pulse racing.

How can this be? How do I sleep at night? Don’t I realise that V8s are the devil’s own work? The reason is simple. Not only is motorsport beautiful – man and machine at the very limits of their mutual prowess – but it is also responsible for many of the developments that make modern motoring so much more efficient than it was, say, 30 years ago. Formula 1 is the proving ground for technology that eventually makes its way into the most mundane vehicle showroom, where you will find small cars that run for kilometers on an egg cup-full of diesel. Formula 1 cars may burn fuel quicker than a small power station, but they cannot afford to waste a drop – efficiency is everything.

Which brings me back to our team of UPS mechanics and automotive experts. When they’re not putting ridiculous engines into old trucks (and let’s face it, this is not something they get to do every day), they’re using their passion and expertise to ensure that UPS package cars run cleanly, efficiently, safely and for a very long time. And as any environmentalist worth his salt will tell you, the carbon footprint of running a well-maintained, well-driven old car is tiny when compared to that of scrapping the car and buying a new one that has to be built from scratch.

So I’d like to congratulate these unsung UPS heroes. Keep inspiring us with automotive excellence, keep ensuring our fleet turns up to work each day and let’s see more of that crazy racing truck.