WHO is your favourite motorsport driver and why?
It might not be too tricky a question for many of us – but in this case, there’s quite a bit of pressure on the young man standing in front of us to supply an interesting answer.
The reason? Well, Daniel Glover is among the candidates hoping to follow motor racing drivers including Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordonez through Nissan’s GT Academy and onto the Tarmac of some of the most famous racetracks in the world.
The Academy has established itself a first-class reputation as an environment where computer gamers can transfer their skills from a virtual world to the real one.
The successes of Mardenborough and Ordonez, winners in previous years, speak for themselves … and now the hunt is on for 2012’s champion.
Nissan Insider was invited to attend the second day of this year’s national final at Silverstone.
We were put through our paces driving a Nissan 370Z around the same ‘car park and cones’ course as the competitors, and we competed in the Playstation3 race pods against each other and Jann himself.
Exciting fast laps with Jann round the rain-soaked surface of Silverstone were also part of the day – and along with journalists from a variety of other magazines and websites, we put the candidates through their paces in a press conference to see how they would cope facing questions from the media. It’s all part of being a modern-day racing driver!
Mood of excitement
(Thankfully we weren’t obliged to complete the fitness tests the candidates were put through.)
Quite a few of the younger hopefuls were at Silverstone with their proud dads and there was an incredible mood of excitement late in the afternoon when the names of the successful six – from an original field of 32 two days earlier and including Daniel – were read out.
However, as they say on all the best TV talent shows, their ‘journey’ is just beginning.
They will be returning for the next stage of the competition – again at Silverstone – from August 18-26 to compete against their counterparts from mainland Europe. And from what Jann was saying as the presentations were made, things could be about to get a whole lot tougher.
Looking back to his experiences last year, he told the successful six: ‘The training’s very, very hard. You’ll certainly be put through your paces, I can guarantee that.’
- Follow the progress of our six hopefuls on Nissan Insider as the competition continues through the summer.