My Journey: 2013 US GT Academy Champion

[Doodle]

Dat SNAIL sticker.

 

[Ameer67]

Dat SNAIL sticker.

That's a nice touch. Haven't seen it before.

 

[GumballCGT]

If you haven't already seen on the front page my Silverstone debrief is up! Also, catch an onboard ride with me during part of my race stint at Silverstone in the Nissan NISMO GTR GT3!

 

[scca_ziptie]

If you haven't already seen on the front page my Silverstone debrief is up! Also, catch an onboard ride with me during part of my race stint at Silverstone in the Nissan NISMO GTR GT3!

How big is the smile inside that helmet?

 

[Filip_Ovik]

If you haven't already seen on the front page my Silverstone debrief is up! Also, catch an onboard ride with me during part of my race stint at Silverstone in the Nissan NISMO GTR GT3!

I get the feeling that your car is a bit of an animal if you don't take it carefully with the throttle, like at 7:30 Or maybe you are too hungry to overtake an upcoming car in front

 

[Wardez]

Listen to the interview we did with Nick here!
https://www.gtplanet.net/gtplanets-...cademy-champions-steve-doherty-nick-mcmillen/

 

[GumballCGT]

Check it out! Just whipped up a website for myself to keep everything all combined in one spot. Will be posting updates, photos, videos, and more on my site so be sure to keep checking back! Will be tweaking things as I go as it's just a simple Wordpress site at the moment. Thanks again for all your support!

NickMcMillen.com is the site. Nice to have it nice and simple lol.

 

[MatheusBond]

Check it out! Just whipped up a website for myself to keep everything all combined in one spot. Will be posting updates, photos, videos, and more on my site so be sure to keep checking back! Will be tweaking things as I go as it's just a simple Wordpress site at the moment. Thanks again for all your support!

NickMcMillen.com is the site. Nice to have it nice and simple lol.

"Currently piloting the #80 Nissan NISMO GT-R GT3 in the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series"

Picture displayed shows the #35.

 

[GumballCGT]

"Currently piloting the #80 Nissan NISMO GT-R GT3 in the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series"

Picture displayed shows the #35.

Haha I know, should probably change it. It's my favorite photo of me driving though.

 

[scca_ziptie]

"Currently piloting the #80 Nissan NISMO GT-R GT3 in the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series"

Picture displayed shows the #35.

Here are a couple with your car @GumballCGT ....

 

[MatheusBond]

Here are a couple with your car @GumballCGT ....

View attachment 169128

View attachment 169127

The second one looks just like the one on the site. That's my pick.

 

[scca_ziptie]

Best of luck and have fun this weekend at Paul Ricard Nick aka @GumballCGT - hope team RJN takes over the points lead after the weekend is over!!

 

[GumballCGT]

Had a fun day of some driver training out at Bedford Autodrome before this weekend. Feeling good and hope to take over the points lead this weekend at Paul Ricard!

 

[TRL_Importlife]

That's bad ass nick keep up the good work your killing it
Hopefully I'll be on the same team next year

 

[GumballCGT]

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give a quick update before I head to bed. Felt good to get back into the car today at Paul Ricard. Was fairly easy to get up to speed here since we had a test day earlier in the year at this track. Bronze test went well but just getting up to speed and a feel for everything again. I get excited every time I get to a race event. Just makes me antsy for the race.

Our two practice sessions proved that our car is quick here with Alex Buncombe putting us in the top 5 during both sessions. First session for myself I worked on finding some more speed which is exactly what I did, improving over a second faster from the bronze test session we had in the morning. The second session again was to run a consistent 7 laps or so to find a good race pace. We had adjusted the car a little bit which seemed to be a good improvement and all my sector times improved. Unfortunately I was never able to put a really good lap together due to a high amount of traffic and a couple mistakes on my part with the one or two less traffic laps.

Anyways, ready to go tomorrow and hopefully redeem my performance from Silverstone. Feeling much more comfortable in the car this race and planning on getting into a good mindset to put in a good stint. Hopefully we will be on top of the podium again!

-Nick

Qualy: 2:20am(PST)
Race: 10:15(PST)

 

[GumballCGT]

Well I can say Paul Ricard definitely wasn't our race but a huge congrats to our teammates in the #35 car for their first podium of the season! Unfortunately ran into problems after qualifying well on the grid and being docked our fastest qualifying time. This caused us to start 32nd on the grid. Florian put in a good stint but unfortunately had a spin losing ten places after making it up to 15th. For some reason I couldn't find a good pace during the race and my stint was all over the board. I made up a couple spots but definitely didn't help our efforts much. Not sure if I have been fighting the car of myself lately. Handed the car over to Alex who was putting in great laps and gaining time. Again we were struck with bad luck when Al had contact with the infamous #333 green Ferrari of Vadim Kogay causing him to pit due to a puncture. Not long after getting back out a Jaguar made contact with Alex causing us even more needed time to push further up the grid putting us back to 12th in PRO-AM where we would finish the day.

I guess not every race can be a good one. It looked like we were going to have a strong finish after qualifying went well and our overall pace in practice was up there for our class. Couldn't seem to catch a break when we really needed one. It is off to Spa tomorrow though for some well needed testing. I've really got to get past whatever block I'm struggling with and start driving like I did at Monza. Two bad stints in a row has me really questioning myself. Better get things sorted quick because we are going to have to be quick and consistent at Spa. We are going for the title and it's still a possibility for us! I will have a full race weekend update soon so be on the lookout for it.

Thanks for reading,
Nick

 

[GumballCGT]

I freaking love this place! If you haven't seen it yet take a ride with me around Spa Francorchamps!

 

[GumballCGT]

...

 

[Doodle]

I guess you can't take Eau Rouge flat-out in real life, huh?

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

I guess you can't take Eau Rouge flat-out in real life, huh?

Of course he can. It just won't be pretty.

 

[Slalom]

That looks pretty awesome, hope you had fun out there!

 

[GumballCGT]

I guess you can't take Eau Rouge flat-out in real life, huh?

Haha far from it. You have to at least lift at a minimum for a moment as you take the left hand curb. I think the Audi's and BMW's can take it flat but the Audi's for sure run a lot more downforce than we do.

 

[GumballCGT]

If you haven't checked out my recent update from Paul Ricard already be sure to check the front page for the run down! For now, I am off to New York City for the North American GT Academy Finals! Gonna be a good time.

https://www.gtplanet.net/nick-mcmillen-my-journey-struggles-at-circuit-paul-ricard/

 

[GumballCGT]

Been working on this with Nissan and it all came together this week and I was able to pick up my new daily driver courtesy of Nissan USA! Check out my new Nissan Juke NISMO RS! Haven't had the chance to drive one until I picked mine up a couple days ago. A great little car so far and have been having a blast in it. Can't thank all the people at Nissan enough for the hookup! Enjoy the mini photoshoot I had with it below.

 

[scca_ziptie]

May consistency be with you at Spa and all the speed you desire be at the mercy of your right right foot Nick!!

 

[GumballCGT]

Quick update on today: Today consisted of a bit of good driving time with free practice, pre-qualy, qualy, and night qualy. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any laps for free practice due to a nasty crash with the #98 ART Mclaren driven by Alvaro Parente. The left side of the car was practically missing yet luckily Alvaro was alright but definitely banged up and bruised a little.

Had a few nice laps in pre-qualy just getting more used to the car and track again with my times coming down nicely at the end. Then it was time for qualifying where Wolfgang Reip went out first and put in a mega lap to put us into the top 20 from the get-go so we can compete in Super Pole tomorrow. I put in some good quick lap times along with the rest of the boys that I was very happy with. Some minor changes will gain me even more time in the race I think as the car felt amazing and should do well in the race if it's anywhere near how it was today.

Only a few laps for each driver in our car in night qualifying to meet the rules but those few laps were quite fun. I forgot what it was like to drive fast in the dark with bright headlights in your mirrors and searching for curbs. It's always a bit of a struggle at first until you adapt to the dark. I think with a few laps in the night stints come race time I should be good to go. Anyways, looking forward to racing on Saturday to start the famous 24 Hours of Spa!

- Nick

 

[scca_ziptie]

 

[GumballCGT]

Just wanted to let everyone know that NISMO.TV will be live streaming the whole Total 24 Hours of Spa along with onboard footage and garage cam as well! All the action starts at 7:30am (PST) so be sure to tune in tomorrow. This is the biggest GT race of the year!

 

[super_gt]

I freaking love this place! If you haven't seen it yet take a ride with me around Spa Francorchamps!

Beautiful onboard video Nick 👍
I want to ask you for a favor.
Can you test my setup and tell me how close is the handling in comparison with your car from this video.
Here is the setup:
GT-R NISMO GT3 Base Model'13 591BHP,no oil change

Tires front-racing hard and rear-sports soft

Fully customisable suspension
Ride height front 67 and rear 73
Spring rate front 21,43 and rear 13,27
Dampers compression front 2 and rear 2
Dampers extension front 2 and rear 2
Anti-roll bars front 3 and rear 3
Camber angle front 0.00 and rear 0.00
Toe angle front 0.00 and rear 0.00

Racing brakes front 6 and rear 6

Stock six-speed transmission

Limited-slip differential
Initial torque 10
Acceleration sensitivity 40
Braking sensitivity 20

Downforce front 350 and rear 490

All AIDS and ABS OFF

Thanks in advance and good luck!

 

[Doodle]

Congrats on your effort at Spa! Keep us proud.