One of the pleasures of dealing directly with the British motorsport industry is getting to see what goes on behind the closed doors of an amazing range of sometimes fairly anonymous office buildings and industrial units.
Nestled on an industrial estate in Daventry there are just a couple of clues as to what lies within a large office and industrial unit – The first is visible through the gate’s to the factory yard, a pristine race transporter, the second is the name on the truck, JRM Group.
Through the reception area, decorated with trophies of battles won on track with the team’s GT1 Nissan’s of just a few years past, and up to the office level, and a conference room with plenty of evidence that the story didn’t stop when the plug was pulled on GT1.
JRM Group are one of very few organisations that can hold claim to an FIA World title, the team’s drivers taking the FIA GT1 Drivers World Championship in 2011 in the mighty Nissan GT-R GT1.
Even while that on-track success was being delivered though JRM’s factory was already preparing for a brand new programme as the new GT3 class version of the Nissan, dubbed the GT-R NISMO GT3 made its European racing debut.
Through cars campaigned by JRM themselves, and by customer teams too the GT3 cars have carved more than a foothold in the hugely competitive European marketplace.
JRM is responsible for the marketing, assembly and preparation of all the Nissan GT3s active in the European market, and JRM supplied cars have already won races across Europe with 2015 looking set to see more cars, more teams, and hopefully more success too as full professional efforts, and Pro-Am driver squads too prepare to do battle in national and international racing next season.
To prepare for all of that though there have been major changes.
A new team of experts at JRM are in place, for customer support, development and liaison not just with the teams looking for on-track success, but also with the NISMO engineers back in Japan responsible for deciding on the changes that will be seen in the next evolutions of the GT-R as the battle rages in the ultra competitive GT3 market for supremacy.
A key part of any race programme is the availability not just of the human side of support, but of the hardware too and JRM’s £1.5 million parts store is extraordinary, a major investment in their ability to provide whatever a customer needs, whenever they need it, bodywork, aero kit and the almost jewel like underpinnings of a 21st century GT racer are ready at a moments notice to be couriered directly to a customers workshop or pit garage, or to be loaded onto the dedicated customer support race truck that is despatched to major race meetings where the GT-Rs are running.
That level of support means that JRM can reduce the capital risk to their customers with the re-assurance that the spares that would otherwise need to be on the team’s shelves, are actually on the suppliers truck. And it’s some truck! The fully equipped pantechnicon is not only beautifully presented, but amazingly well stocked too.
“We carry around £500,000 worth of parts on the truck together with support personnel to assist the customers, it’s been a popular, and at times useful initiative, certainly not something that every GT3 manufacturer commits to,” that was James Walters, JRM’s Partnership Manager, and my guide through the warehousing, workshops, machine shops and race bays that make up a very comprehensive facility.
“We’re working up now, together with our new customers for this year and next season too, the best schedule for the truck but there’s ample opportunity to respond to even further new efforts”
The parts truck was parked in the yard alongside a further pair of very well presented vehicles, a full race transporter and hospitality unit: “We currently use these for testing days, and they are available too in support of any customer that requests them.
Onto the machine shops with sub assembly for driveline and suspension components, not only for the Nissan GT3 cars, but also the parallel rallying projects handled by another section of the JRM empire.
“Like many other companies in the industry we’ve learned that in addition to strong established programmes you also need to be prepared to diversify.”
In no small part, JRM’s ‘edge’ in that regard is provided by a skilled and well equipped engineering arm, capable of protoyping, small run or full scale production of a bewildering range of motorsport (and other!) components and projects.
“We can respond very quickly to an external request, or an internal need, the level of investment required for this part of the business has been considerable, but as you can see,” in what was a very busy machine shop, ”it is paying off.”
Onto the main race-shop, in truth the part that gets most enthusiast’s juices flowing and it was difficult to know where to look first!
At the far end was the very latest Group N Subaru WRX STI rally car, the first sedan version in Europe, this car bound for the European Rally Championship, a project JRM is rightly proud of, working hand in glove with the manufacturer to continue the rallying presence of one of the sport’s most iconic marques.
There were a couple of other road cars “work in progress” in the workshop with a polite request to steer clear of, one in particular there as a car to evaluate for future potential programmes.
For a sportscar man though the really interesting line-up was on the other side of the workshop.
A Nissan GT-R, though a hugely familiar car to any enthusiast, is still a relatively rare beast, and here, neatly lined up, were no fewer than four racing versions of the car!
The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 is the very latest in a storied line of Nissan racecars, their stance, and their pace earned them the nickname ‘Godzilla’ and the aggressive looks of the current car live up to that moniker.
Just as the roadgoing GT-R belies its street racer looks to provide point to point punch to match even the most exotic of supercars so the GT3 race version, with its twin turbo V6 and full race aero package is more than capable of taking the scalps of the best that Italy, Germany and the UK can throw at it.
There’s an irony in the GT3 marketplace. Exclusivity isn’t necessarily where you might expect to find it!
Ferraris, Aston Martins, Porsches, BMWs, Audis and Mercedes are everywhere, but the Nissan is a rare beast, a connoisseur’s car, beloved of the enthusiasts and those in the know, the GT-R badge means as much to them as any chrome bauble elsewhere.
First in line in the workshop was a car that would play a key part in securing the ambitions of JRM Group for 2015, a 2014 spec Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, ready and prepped for testing with teams and drivers looking to confirm programmes for the coming season.
The next car, looking totally pristine was one of the GT1 cars from the team’s title winning year in the FIA GT1 World Championship. “We have two of the cars, the third is with a collector and the fourth is in Japan with NISMO”
Third in line was another signifiant car, the 2014 GT-R about to be despatched to Italy as a second race car for recent new customer team Nova Race. “They already have their first car and this car will allow them to expand their race programme and introduce a fairly extensive test programme too.”
Finally there’s another 2014 GT3 car “Being prepared for a new customer for selected rounds in 2014 and a full season in 2015.”
There’s a brand new bare chassis too, the JRM facility is able to build up a new £295,000 car from scratch in 4-5 weeks around engines supplied directly from NISMO in Japan, though the GT3 race engine is very close in spec to the road car version and one of the strongest in the GT3 field. Rebuilds are done by JRM with rebuild cycles now much improved from 4,500 km for the original GT3 cars now increased to an impressive 9,000 km.
”Compared to the road car engines the race versions have different rods for endurance and are built to slightly tighter tolerances, all new and rebuilt engines are dynoed (at JRM’s second facility in Rye Sussex) against numbers supplied directly from NISMO.”
It’s impressive stuff, and more impressive still is the high likelihood that more full professional efforts, and Pro-Am driver squads too will be preparing to do battle in national and international racing next season.
JRM are also gearing up for the imminent arrival of the first 2015 spec car, and it promises to see every area of an already very complete package developed even further: More speed, more grip, more serviceability and more consistency.
“NISMO have completed extensive testing in Japan. We’ll be working with NISMO at the BOP tests in September and then we’ll start a testing programme in Europe. We expect all of the current cars will be upgradeable.”
With those new teams, and new cars, on the way who’d bet against there being more trophies on display the next time we pop by to JRM’s Daventry base?
