NISSAN is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend with a spectacular range of activities that bring the excitement and passion of the brand to life.
The entertainment started with the Moving Motor Show, now firmly established as the curtain-raiser to the festival itself. Taking place yesterday, it featured a Nissan stand bursting at the seams with innovative new cars available for visitors to drive.
These included the new Juke Nismo and 370Z Nismo, plus the amazing new MY13 LEAF. Those lucky enough to secure test drives were able to sample these innovative machines around the Goodwood Estate on a route that took in the famous Goodwood hill-climb course.
Visitors this weekend will also be able to sample the famous hill climb digitally too. For the first time, the Goodwood Hill will be playable on Gran Turismo 6 and Nissan’s Moving Motor Show stand will have Playstation3s equipped with a special Hill Climb demo.
Record a fast enough time and visitors could gain a ‘wildcard’ entry straight through to the GT Academy national final. Who knows, a Goodwood visitor could even become a Nismo athlete, like previous GT Academy graduates Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough.
Away from the Moving Motor Show, Nissan’s main stand celebrates the official launch of the Nismo road car range, along with the innovative new Note and new, British-built LEAF. Nissan once again offers a range of interactive experiences.
The stand features four zones, with interactive features in every one.
The Nismo Experience encourages visitors to learn all about Nismo and its heritage, while aspiring GT Academy racers can gain access to a special Nismo Lab by playing a host of specially-developed touchscreen games designed to assess their driving skill and see if they have what it takes to be a Nismo athlete.
Nissan technology of a different kind will be showcased at the Note Safety Shield Experience. Visitors are able to take part in an interactive 
demonstration of the B-sector challenger’s innovative new system that uses a single rear-facing camera to give Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Warning and Moving Object Detection. It then uses three separate cameras for its Around View Monitor which gives a bird’s eye view when parking.
The stand also features a GT-R Experience where visitors can ‘race’ a GT-R on a special 25-metre running track. Inspired by Nissan’s sponsorship of the British Olympic Association in the run-up to Rio 2016, Nissan is challenging runners to complete the 25-metre dash in less time than it takes for a GT-R to digitally lap the entire stand. Former Olympic gold medalist Darren Campbell provides coaching advice via a video screen to those who think they can outrun Nissan’s legendary supercar.
Exotic machinery
Finally, an EV Experience allows visitors to get up close to the new ZEOD (Zero Emission On Demand) RC – Nissan’s Garage 56 entry for the 2014 Le Mans 24hr race.
Of course, no Goodwood Festival of Speed would be complete without the sights and sounds of exotic machinery fighting it out on the 1.16-mile hillclimb. For 2013, Nissan will be showcasing its new 370Z Nismo, along with a pair of GT-Rs.
In addition to the new MY13 GT-R road car, spectators will also be able to enjoy Nissan’s fire-breathing FIA GT3 GT-R, which will be racing up the hill throughout the event. Driving duties will be taken care of by Nismo athletes Alex Buncombe, Lucas Ordonez and Wolfgang Reip.