SA teen tests Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3

Published Jul 23, 2014

Share

Silverstone - South African teenager Liam Venter has completed the second of two successful tests in a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3.

Liam, who graduated to F3 in 2013 - and became the first South African single-seater driver to stand on the podium at Monza since Jody Scheckter in 1979 - first tried the factory JRM Group machine at Brands Hatch, putting in an impressive performance despite tricky wet conditions in the afternoon.

The 19-year-old from Johannesburg drove it again, a week later, at Silverstone and again did well.

"The car's a pleasure to drive," he said, "and Silverstone is one of my favourite circuits, so it was a good day.

"It was an opportunity to spend some quality time in the car and despite the traffic we managed to put together a few respectable lap times."

DRIVER COACH

JRM Group development and factory race driver Craig Dolby - who is also Venter's driver coach, felt the youngster had done very well, especially as he had never before driven a GT machine.

"He was immediately at ease," Dolby said. "His times were very good, just a couple of tenths off my benchmark times. In hindsight the wet conditions at Brands were also a real bonus.

"He was out there looking for - and finding - the grip, and working to keep the tyres cool. If he keeps up that level of progress I'm going to have to up my game!"

ABOUT THE CAR

Based on the world championship-winning Nissan GT-R Nismo GT1 car, the GT-R Nismo GT3 is built specifically for endurance racing in Daventry, England by the JRM Group. Its 3.8-litre biturbo V6 is based on the GT-R road car engine and delivers more than 410kW to the rear wheels via a Sachs four-plate sintered clutch and six-speed Hewland transaxle gearbox with semi-automatic pneumatic paddle shift.

Related Topics:

Nissan