370Z Wins At "Total 24 Hours of Spa"

ZCarMan

GT Academy Winner Takes Class Victory at Spa 24 Hours

08.01.2011 , Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
GT ACADEMY WINNER TAKES FIRST MAJOR INTERNATIONAL VICTORY

After one of the most gruelling ‘Total 24 Hours of Spa’ for many years, the RJN Motorsport Nissan 370Z of Jordan Tresson, Alex Buncombe and Chris Ward crossed the line as the GT4 race winner this afternoon. This marks the first international victory for a GT Academy winner and indeed for the production class Nissan 370Z.

This year’s race has seen the mighty fall at the hands of the ever-challenging Spa track and the impossible to predict Ardennes weather but the RJN Motorsport team stayed focused and held on to the end to take the victor’s spoils.

The race got off to a good start yesterday afternoon with RJN regular Alex Buncombe at the wheel of the 370Z. Qualifying was also Alex’s job this weekend and he did it perfectly, sticking the Nissan on pole position in the GT4 class, ahead of stiff competition from Lotus, BMW and Aston Martin.

The race itself was full of dramas but that is the nature of endurance racing. If you can deal with the problems and keep your focus, you are well on your way to success.

The Nissan 370Z held the lead for the first three hours of the race but the Lotus took the lead when a damper problem required a visit to the pits. A couple of hours later a rear puncture further delayed the Nissan but the fight-back was well and truly on.

After a very long, dark night the Nissan surfaced from some heavy rain in second place and then at around 0800hrs the lead Lotus retired out on the track. The Nissan breezed into the lead and never looked back, taking a comfortable win after 24 hours of hard racing.

“The RJN guys blew me away today,” commented Darren Cox, Nissan Europe’s Chief Marketing Manager (Crossover and Sports Cars). “Just when you think it’s all over they dig even deeper, fix the car and send it out again. Their ‘never say die’ attitude is an example to us all and an incredible thing to witness.”

“Al Buncombe did an amazing job,” he continued. “Especially during the night when he was out on slicks in the damp conditions. He took huge chunks out of the Lotus’ lead during that run. He is a prime example of a professional driver and a great role model for Jordan as he continues his racing education. Jordan himself has been very mature and calm throughout the race. He is a good team player and he is learning his lessons well. This is a great moment for GT Academy: second place at Le Mans and now a win at Spa shows we are getting it right.”

Jordan Tresson has been on a very steep learning curve since winning GT Academy in 2010 and this result proves he is well on his way to being a true professional racer.

“I’m very happy to have this result,” he said. “This is a big race and it is very hard on everyone involved so to come out on top after 24 hours is a great feeling. Thanks to Bob, Al and Chris and all of the RJN Motorsport team and of course to the guys at Nissan who have been here cheering us on all weekend!”

Bob Neville, the RJN Motorsport team boss and the man who has guided the GT Academy graduates since 2008 was naturally delighted with the result.

“It has been a long journey to get to this victory,” he said. “This is the first major 24 hour race win for RJN and for the Nissan 370Z. This proves that it’s not just the fastest GT4 car in Europe but it is also strong enough for a car-breaking endurance race like this. This was a tough race and many of the big teams and drivers made mistakes so to be knocking on the door of the overall top 20 at the end, despite our own problems, is a good feeling.”

The final position for the Nissan 370Z was 22nd overall from a field of over 60 cars. The 2011 Total 24 Hours of Spa will be remembered as the race where the Nissan 370Z mixed it with the big guns and came out at the top of the class.

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Jon

Vapiano

Cool story...good to see the 370Z doing well.

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TreeSemdyZee

That is a serious case of awesomeness! Cool to hear.

DJ-of-E

I never heard of Spa 24 hours. What kind of setup are on these cars? (yes I know, race car, but there are different specifications).

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ZCarMan

I was poking around and found a page that talks about the two 370Zs run by RJN Motorsport at the Ring last month. It provides some info on the cars make up:

http://www.dailysportscar.com/viewAr...282E91B2CFA8E0

It was good to see meanwhile that RJN had not one but two 370Zs at the Ring this year, their regular SP10 (GT4) car joined by a more highly developed SP8 version, this a 4 litre car with bigger brakes and wheels, a large rear wing and front splitter completing a very aggressive stance.

Both cars were finished in the iconic Falken livery, the team running on Falken rubber this year and learning fast about their new tyre partner.

“We’ve done a lot of work with the tyres in the VLN races leading up to the 24 Hours,” said RJN Team Principal Bob Neville. “There’s always more you can do though and we were working hard to find the right balance in both the free practice sessions and qualifying too. We found a good compromise for both cars for the race though.”

It didn’t exactly prove to be lacking in qualifying either, Alex Buncombe taking pole in SP10 and the SP8 car qualifying well up too in a class which also included the factory run Aston Zagatos and the super quick Lexus LFAs.

Both cars translated that good form well into the early stages of the race too, on a drying track the wily RJN team had opted for cut slicks on both 370Zs and both ran easily inside the overall top 30.

24 hour racing though is a cruel game and before dark both Nissans had hit trouble, the SP10 car with gearbox issues and the SP8 hitting trouble with its diff.

After that, and an off following contact for Tanaka San in the night it was fightback mode for both cars, and a spirited display that owed as much to the will to finish as it did to any realistic chance of a podium.

Despite that the SP8 car finished an excellent 4th in class, a bittersweet result after the car had held a podium slot through the night.

It might have been a major effort to bring the cars home but both Michael Krumm and Guy Smith hung on right to the end, despite both being due to fly to a test session for the FIA GT1 Nissan GTR team the following day – “The car was great, really strong and fun to drive,”

For Bob Neville it was a mixture of pride in finishing one of the most demanding races on the planet, and frustration that the cars could have finished much higher up the order.

“Of course you always want to do better, but that’s because we know they can do better. Adapting one of these cars is not a simple task, You start with a very capable road car but then you need to stiffen the chassis with a roll cage and save weight too.

The RJN race cars are based on one of the most popular versions of the Zed in both Japan and the USA, the Version Nismo. They can thus take advantage of a number of detail differences between our road car and the NISMO car.

A small rear wing rather than a spoiler, a very slightly longer front end and aero improved lower sills plus a homologated 3.8 litre engine.

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Jon

Mt Tam I am

I loved reading this one. I'm glad to hear our car wins races.

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vivid2012

congrats for that.

ZCarMan

Me too. I hadn't seen much about the 370Z competing and winning so this was a good article to share. Hopefully this is just the beginning of more wins!

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Jon

Red__Zed

cool

christian370z

That is a very good read and is a super cool story! It's also not bad that the 370z did so well either....

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travisjb

nice. don't forget that a.m. performance has a 370z competing in grandam here in the states... after a season of development, we can root for them to take some pole's and quality finishes next year

one negative from all this... none of the real race teams use our engine.... too much heat generated by the upper block (VVEL), so they are either swapping to a 350z motor or aftermarket heads

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wafflesarefun

what is this 4L nismo engine that they speak of!? and can i get one?

ZCarMan

Best I could find was this:

RJN Motorsport have developed the Nissan 370Z GT4 Version NISMO race car which will be available for the 2010 season onwards. This exciting version of the 370Z is fitted with a VQ38 HR engine and a 6 speed manual transmission. The GT-4 car having been developed by RJN with the technical support of NISMO. RJN are extremely excited about the development of this Nissan 370Z GT4 car. The car will be built by us to order for customers that wish to be competitive in the growing GT4 category.

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Jon

cheshirecat

relevant pics.
http://www.gizmag.com/second-playsta...icture/138982/

dad

Classification win, that's good.

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