Up until now I only knew car racing from television. Formula One is exciting, but I haven't really been a fan yet. This could change now. Last weekend I was allowed to work at the GT Academy in Silverstone experience a little racing atmosphere. A place steeped in history, because the first Formula One ever took place here in the 1950s. Along with the typical English weather, Nissan went to one of Silverstone's four circuits, the building of which is used as the basis for this year's Nissan Racecamp of the GT Academy.
Playstation players know what it's about. The innovative GT Academy racing driver program has been exciting racing simulation fans worldwide for almost five years. At this year's launch in July, Nissan and PlayStation® lured more than 600.000 participants from 18 countries to the consoles to get away from the game Gran Turismo® secure a seat in a real Nissan racing car. 100.000 participants came from Germany alone. The 16 fastest gamers received an invitation to the national final of the GT Academy Germany, where they meet another 8 wildcard winners of the live events, against whom they had to prove their skills on the console again. In the end, 12 participants remained and were allowed to go to the Race Camp in Silverstone for the finals. With a bit of luck, you can look forward to a glorious career as a racing driver.
As a member of the press, I was able to save myself all the fiddling and was allowed to go to the sacred halls of Silverstone. Fortunately, because I'm not bad at the console, but I certainly couldn't have kept up with the boys. After a brief introduction, the Nissan GT-R went straight onto the slopes. 550 horsepower under the rear are awe inspiring. If the track also glitters with puddles, you will feel a little tired. Fortunately, we always had a well-trained instructor sitting next to us who explained exactly what we had to do. My sparse racetrack experiences have definitely learned a lot. I even had a small stage win for myself when I referred my dear colleague Jens Gleitsmann to the rear places. The racing fever had seized me.
The GT Academy participants naturally shocked such road conditions very little. Always accompanied by an RTL camera team and their jurors Nick Heidfeld, Sila Sahin and Jean Pierre Kraemer, the boys showed what they could do on the slopes. In addition to the GT-R, the 370Z (350 PS) and the Juke Nismo (200 hp) on the track. The 370Z had the mandatory right-hand drive. Fortunately, I already knew this from my adventure in Namibia. Nevertheless, it was a change that made me skid on one of the legendary corners. Typically English, always have to do everything differently. Fortunately, I had already developed a certain feeling for the route and the vehicle and was able to steer the good part back on track. Later, the GT Academy winner from Russia 2012, Mark Shulzhitskiy, showed me how to do it right and drove the route again with me in the passenger seat. Drift insoles included. In my drift attempts in the 350Z, however, I was under no circumstances able to keep up.
The two Nissan 350Zs that had been put up for these exercises were pretty worn out. But the boys really knew no mercy and the carts crunched and creaked from all pipes. No wonder, with the drift inlays that some of them flaunted. So far I was only a passenger in such actions. This time I was allowed to take part myself and not too short. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep the car running and I just choked it off with every spin. The game between gas and clutch in time was just not given to my feet at that moment. Especially since the term 'clutch', which the instructor threw me from time to time, was only ever known to me as a small evening bag that I wear with my evening outfit. But the adrenaline level went to unexpected heights. Fun factor three. Afterwards, one of the instructors showed me how to do it correctly and with me as a passenger in donut mode, I roared around the pylons. The poor 350Z.
The car wasn't the only thing that was pretty windy. The individual participants were allowed to do other tasks outside in the wonderfully drizzly weather. They were well received in the shortest possible time while they were racing on a hovercraft, bike, on foot or in a buggy. Anyone who was not good enough or made mistakes received penalty points. From the game console in your own living room to the boot camp in England. Someone should say that gamers cannot be fit. If you want to become a future racing driver, you have to grit your teeth and go through. After all, this year's participants were spared the mud stretch. Nevertheless, the tasks were not without and some were happy in the evening when they could hop into the warm, dry bed. The joy did not last long, however, because the next morning, drill seargents shouted awake with a loud roar. Man, I'm glad to be in the press. ☺
Our tasks were pretty relaxed. In the 'Nismo Lab' our ability to concentrate was recorded based on our brain waves and reaction time via a kind of senso game. I was pretty good at that. In addition, our fitness data were measured and we were able to run the Silverstone route from the previous day again using the driving simulator. If it hit you on the grass, the damage was negligible because it didn't exist. Fortunately, that didn't happen to us on the slopes with the 'real' vehicles. The exams of the participants became larger in the course of the afternoon. On an old one Military base in Upper Heyford, which was taken over by the Americans as a base during World War II, allowed the 8 remaining boys, who had passed all previous tests, to step on the gas again.
It went with a 370Z through three old hangars, prepared with water balloons, lasers, fireworks, styrofoam walls and paintball attacks. They should burst the balloons during the donut drift, not be distracted by lasers and fireworks and drive through the styrofoam wall without knowing what was really waiting for them. Everything on time, of course. Unfortunately we could not experience the colorful action anymore, because we had to go back home. However, I will make up for that in November, when the race camp will be broadcast on RTL. Then I also find out who is the lucky winner and is following in the footsteps of Peter Pyzera, the 2012 German winner. He has now become a permanent team member and has a good chance of winning in the last race at the Nürburgring.
If you can't wait, you'll find it Flickr the first impressions of the GT Academy 2013. Thanks to the GT Academy, the motorsport world has gained some great new racing drivers and a new fan in me.
Pictures: Simone Amores / Nissan
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