Automotive

Behind the scenes at Nissan Motorsports Australia

Behind the scenes at Nissan Motorsports Australia
Inside Nissan Motorsports Australia's HQ – what does it take to make a successful auto racing team?
Inside Nissan Motorsports Australia's HQ – what does it take to make a successful auto racing team?
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Nissan Motorsports Australia runs four cars in V8 Supercars
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Nissan Motorsports Australia runs four cars in V8 Supercars
Most of the body panels are carbon fiber
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Most of the body panels are carbon fiber
The cars are fitted with a sequential gearbox
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The cars are fitted with a sequential gearbox
While V8s will reach almost 300 km/h during the season, this one is going no where fast
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While V8s will reach almost 300 km/h during the season, this one is going no where fast
All cars are built around a V8 Supercars Car of the Future chassis
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All cars are built around a V8 Supercars Car of the Future chassis
There are all sorts of interesting bits and pieces lying around the factory
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There are all sorts of interesting bits and pieces lying around the factory
Nissan Motorsports Australia started life as Kelly Racing
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Nissan Motorsports Australia started life as Kelly Racing
Maintaining a good relationship with sponsors is key to creating a successful race team
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Maintaining a good relationship with sponsors is key to creating a successful race team
The drivers have a layout of the track on the steering wheel
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The drivers have a layout of the track on the steering wheel
V8s is one of the most hotly contested race series in the world
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V8s is one of the most hotly contested race series in the world
Nissan manufactures all the parts for its cars on site
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Nissan manufactures all the parts for its cars on site
Dunlop supplies the control tire for V8 Supercars
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Dunlop supplies the control tire for V8 Supercars
Rick and Todd Kelly run the team as well as driving
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Rick and Todd Kelly run the team as well as driving
Inside Nissan Motorsports Australia's HQ – what does it take to make a successful auto racing team?
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Inside Nissan Motorsports Australia's HQ – what does it take to make a successful auto racing team?
We can only assume that this is the motorsport equivalent of a post it note
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We can only assume that this is the motorsport equivalent of a post it note
V8 Supercars is now home to 5 manufacturers
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V8 Supercars is now home to 5 manufacturers
Nissan is constantly chasing extra tenths by machining new parts on site, analysing them at V8 test sessions and then putting them into production
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Nissan is constantly chasing extra tenths by machining new parts on site, analysing them at V8 test sessions and then putting them into production
Nissan's HQ in Mordialloc
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Nissan's HQ in Mordialloc
CAD Modelling is essential to creating a competitive car
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CAD Modelling is essential to creating a competitive car
Power comes from a 5.0-liter V8 engine
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Power comes from a 5.0-liter V8 engine
Nissan's finished product hits the track
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Nissan's finished product hits the track
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There are hundreds of tiny piecesthat go into creating the giant puzzle that is a successful racing team. While race fans get to see acompleted car running flat out around a track, creating that completed puzzle involvesthe careful management of engineers, marketers, drivers and sponsors. So, howdo they do it? Gizmag recently had a chance to look around Nissan Motorsport Australia’sfactory, before sitting down with team director and driver, Rick Kelly andgeneral manager of engineering, Craig Spencer, to find out.

The V8 Supercars is one of the most closely fought, competitiveseries in the world, with cars from Volvo, GM Holden, Ford and Mercedes rubbingpanels over 15 rounds across Australia and New Zealand. The cars might lookdifferent, but they’re all underpinned by the same chassisand powered by 5.0-liter V8 engines. As well as the usual set of shorter,sprint-style races, teams will tackle four endurance races in 2015, includingthe world-famous Bathurst 1000.

The racing is rough, and there's very little separating the bottom cars from frontrunners.

Nissan Motorsports Australia runs four cars in V8 Supercars
Nissan Motorsports Australia runs four cars in V8 Supercars

Nissan Motorsports Australia was formed by brothers Rick andTodd Kelly in 2009, but ran GM Holden Commodores under the guise of KellyRacing until 2013, when the team first raced Nissan’s mid-sized Altima. Everythingon the cars is manufactured on site at Mordialloc in Victoria, and the 55strong staff runs cars for Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso and JamesMoffat.

Our tour took us past shelves of immaculately machined metal parts sitting ready for action at the next race weekend or testing session – the team is constantly using software from companies like Autodesk to create parts that are added and tested in the search for a few extra tenths here and there. Although drivers might be keen to get their hands on new kit that will help them on the track, there is a painstaking process of performance analysis that goes into attaching anything new to a racer. Once a prototype part has been tested, the data from that test is taken back to HQ where it is analyzed and, if it passes the test, put into production on site

Also on display is the team’s glistening set of engines.Each manufacturer has its own engine in V8 Supercars, and there is a smalldisparity in power across the field. Nissan’s engine is based on the 5.6-literV8 from the Patrol, before it gets de-stroked cylinder liners and a de-strokedcrank to bring displacement down to 5.0-liters. Running on E85 Ethanol fuel, V8 Supercars says the cars produce about 635 hp, although Nissan's engine is 10-15 hp behind where the drivers would like it.

Nissan is constantly chasing extra tenths by machining new parts on site, analysing them at V8 test sessions and then putting them into production
Nissan is constantly chasing extra tenths by machining new parts on site, analysing them at V8 test sessions and then putting them into production

Just in case the roll cage, slicks and massive aero kit didn't give it away to you, these V8s are miles removed from the cars they mimic. Altima road cars are designed to be comfy and quiet, and most owners wouldn't be too fussing about handling nuances – being able to hook their phone up to the infotainment system is generally a higher priority. As you'd imagine, the V8 Supercar is a super-stripped out affair. Nissan doesn't start with a road going car, it builds the racer around a control chassis. Inside, there is no dash and just one race bucket, designed to support the driver as they pull massive g-forces through the corners. It's tough to even get a look inside thanks to the roll cage that forms a skeleton around the driver's compartment. Even when the carbon fiber bodywork is mangled and broken in a crash, that roll cage will stay in tact.

As good as the gleaming engines look, perhapsmore staggering is the wall of tires that Nissan has to keep. Supplier Dunlophas a barcode on each tire and if they are unaccounted for when it comes timefor recycling, the team can be fined $10,000, which means there is a hugecollection of used rubber carefully catalogued and stored in a warehouse onsite.

We can only assume that this is the motorsport equivalent of a post it note
We can only assume that this is the motorsport equivalent of a post it note

Holden and Ford have been in V8s since 1997. While teamsmight swap factory allegiances every now and then, the basic blueprint for the sport changed very little between 2003 and 2012, when it introduced new regulations and opened itself up to more manufacturers tostay relevant and competitive. Rick and Todd Kelly’s team was the first to jump ship from the establishedsuppliers, and Kelly Racing became Nissan Motorsports Australia. With thatswitch came a whole raft of time consuming, costly challenges unlike thosefaced by anyone else in the competition.

"It’s basically seen a three-year patch of difficult resultsfrom our team," Rick Kelly tells Gizmag. Sitting in one of the conference roomson site at Nissan HQ, he gives off the impression of a man who understands thebusiness well. Six years of running ateam will do that for you.

The team spent 2012 working on that year’s Holden, as wellas pouring time and effort into developing a Nissan racer from scratch. Kellydescribes this as having "one team doing two jobs."

Nissan's finished product hits the track
Nissan's finished product hits the track

As well as managing the switch, trying to put in goodperformances on the track and maintain a life outside of racing, team bosses need to maintain a strong relationship with advertisers andsponsors.

"There’s a lot of stress and pressure on us to keep it rolling,and keep it going as a healthy business, because it’s not like a normalbusiness where we do work and get paid for that work," says Kelly.

"We’ve got to go and find sponsors to keep the doors open.Our business relies on; about 85 or 90 percent of our total turnover relies onsponsorship. So, that’s very difficult, particularly in today’s economicclimate, the first thing businesses do is they cut down their marketing andalmost cut completely out sponsorship.

"We’ve got a lot of pressure on us to ensure we can keep thedoors open and keep 55 staff employed here, and perform at the top levels inone of Australia’s leading sports."

Dunlop supplies the control tire for V8 Supercars
Dunlop supplies the control tire for V8 Supercars

Those 55 people are absolutely crucial to the team’sdevelopment. There is a lot of focus on the drivers come race weekend, but allof the achievements are the result of having a tight team working behindthe scenes. In any sport, one weak link can spell disaster for the entire organisation,so Nissan Motorsports puts a great deal of time and effort into finding andkeeping the best people on board.

"Getting the most out of the team is the most tricky thingin V8 Supercars or in any sport, and so that’s where we’ve invested a lot oftime," says Kelly. "And in previous teams that’s why we’ve achieved success. It’s not becausewe’ve had the most resources, it’s because we got the most out of the people wehad there.”

Just as it looks like the Nissan Motorsports team isstarting to get on top of things, V8 Supercars has gone and shuffled the rulesaround again. In 2017, the series is opening itself up to a wider variety ofbody styles and engines. Having created a totally new package for 2013’srevised regulations and refined it over the subsequent years, NissanMotorsports might have to rip it all up and start again. As exciting as it willbe to see a variety of body styles rubbing panels around Bathurst, it must befrustrating to work so hard to create a new package only to see the goalpostsmoved again.

For Nissan Motorsports, it’s about being "a bit careful" about how they deal with the changes. The rules are very broad, and Kelly iskeen not to rush into anything, especially after playing the role of guineapig when V8s expanded to include other manufacturers.

Despite the rapidly improving results, Rick Kelly isn’tstopping to pat himself on the back.

"We’re proud of what we’ve got here, but we’re only in this for one thing andthat’s to get to the front. So when we’re not at the front, you don’t feel veryproud.

"You’re working your backside off to get to a point where you can go home going‘yeah, we did that ourselves as a team of 55, of great people and got to thefront.

"Until we’re at that point we’re not very satisfied.”

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