With GT Academy Race Camps only occupying a month a year, we’ve often wondered what the huge fleet of 370Zs and GT-Rs are used for the rest of the time. A short, 3 minute feature on a regional news program in the UK, spotted by GTP member “Humphrey” gave us a surprising insight.
Mission Motorsport is a charity supporting seriously injured British servicemen, including amputees, using sports therapy and adventure training to rehabilitate those who have been affected by military conflict as part of the Battle Back scheme. Run by servicemen, veterans and motorsports professionals, Mission Motorsport provides vocational training in all aspects of motorsport right from driving and garage crew to logistics and PR. GT Academy was on hand, with Le Mans veteran Derek Bell, to provide driver training at a Thruxton test day last month.
However, the GT Academy involvement doesn’t end there. The experiences of developing novice gamers for motorsports over the last four years has enabled the team to better focus the training for the team’s drivers and, with the support of the RJN Motorsport team, Mission Motorsport will be entering a Nissan 370Z in this weekend’s Britcar 24 Hour race at Silverstone. The driver line-up for the race is:
Major James Cameron – co-founder of Mission Motorsport, a seasoned racer and instructor and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, commanding the Armoured Group in Helmand Province.
Trooper James Gillborn – James is a below-knee amputee, having fallen victim to an IED in Afghanistan in June 2011. Learning to walk and drive again with a prosthesis, James’s first race was only a month ago in a Nissan 350Z in the Britcar Production Cup at Snetterton.
Lance Corporal Martyn Copleston – Martyn was also severely injured by an IED in Afghanistan in 2011, when detonated by the Warthog vehicle he was in. He was Mission Motorsport’s first racing driver but, as a handy mechanic, has worked as part of the pit crew team too.
Sergeant Gary Dunning – Gary was diagnosed with PTSD following a tour in Iraq and this was compounded when he was involved in a motorbike accident and sustained significant injuries throughout his body. Despite having to be effectively rebuilt, Gary then served further tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chris Ward, Silverstone’s chief instructor and teammate of Jann Mardenborough in the RJN GT-R for the Blancpain Endurance Series, is also listed as a driver entry for the team’s car, running in class 4 and wearing a green #93 for the race.
The race starts at 1430GMT on Saturday September 22nd, with commentary throughout on Radio Le Mans. For more information on Mission Motorsport, please visit their website or Facebook page.
Images courtesy of Mission Motorsport and Nissan. Thanks to Humphrey for the tip and Mission Motorsport for additional information.
See more articles on GT Academy.
thats awesome to be able to race again, given the chance, good job JRM…
Very cool, should be more programs like this.
Great they give these people the opportunity to drive and race cars, as has been mentioned before such programm should exist everywhere, sadly it doesn’t. Keep up the good work guys
Sorry to change the subject but I got an email from Sony today advertising the new lighter slimmer new styled PS3 … GT6..PS3 i think !!!!
Thats the console to cut costs, Sliding Disc tray, Basic shell, 6gb basic model…..Reminds me of the PS2 slim by cutting manufacturing costs to start on next gen. Its going out with a bang. PS4 is the next financial step.
Hats off to my fellow combat vets..
Is this the one Hammond did?
Yes, I believe so
That’s a nice livery on the GTR
This is a great program and should come to all the countries for a stress reliever! Clean, exciting fun!!! for all service men who enjoy automobiles. Thanks GT for taking it a step further ^_^
Great stuff! Makes me feel proud of being a GT fan. Nice one PD & Nissan!
Kazunori is such a nice guy! He turns any kind of people into racedrivers! Kaz your the best! Should be given an honour award!
Brilliant!!!!!!!! warms the cockles of your heart,keep it up :)
Great to see. Keep up the good work.
Btw, I love Sally. :)
This is the best story I’ve seen here. Kudos.
That’s pretty cool actually. Good luck to all involved.
Thanks for posting this Famine, & for digging out the images, good job.
There should be a GT Academy for disabled or less able people from around the world, Who else would normally give these people a chance in motorsport, Kaz, PD, Nissan are you listening.
Great stuff Nissan!
Interesting