What would you think if I told you that for a particular motorsport event the combined budgets (development, testing, etc.) of the top three teams (in this case, VW, BMW and Mitsubishi) ran into the billions of dollars? And what if you still needed to field a competitive team with virtually no factory support, and your base of operations are located in the auto engineering hub of Germany nor the technical wizardry of Japan, but instead the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa? You’d call me insane, right?

Insane might just be what most competitors outside of the Dark Continent thought of Glyn Hall and his South African Nissan Motorsports operation just a few years ago—but not now. Turning 53 this September, Glyn Hall (a native Welshman) moved to South Africa in 1979 and at one time ran the VW Dealer team in national rallies there before joining Nissan Motorsport S.A. as an engineer in 1992 and being appointed its general manager in 1993.

Since that time, Nissan Motorsport S.A. has been arguably the most successful motorsports program in South Africa (maybe all of Africa), winning 14 separate national championships in 13 years (through ’08) and developing and working with some of the world’s best drivers, including this year’s Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers, Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae and Stephan Peterhansel. Beginning in 2001, Hall and his Nissan Motorsports team has concentrated mainly on off-road racing as a way to counter the marketing efforts of South Africa’s top-selling manufacturer, Toyota. To say that Hall has been successful in his efforts to put his Nissan trucks on top of the podium is an understatement. Under his direction, Nissan Motorsport S.A. trucks won 36 out of the 45 events they entered between 2001 and 2006.

Not content to dominate South Africa alone, Hall and his Nissan Motorsports, S.A. crew dipped their toes into the famed Dakar rally, building two racing Pathfinder SUVs (known as Terranos outside the U.S.) for the French Dessoude team, and then the team served as the technical backup for Nissan’s corporate Dakar effort in ’03. Nissan Motorsport S.A. trucks were constant threats to win the Dakar throughout the early to mid 2000s, with de Villiers and Vatanen taking numerous stage wins and finishing fifth and seventh overall, respectively, in the ’03 Dakar while also winning smaller races such as Moroccan FIA Championship Rally in ’03 and European Baja Championship in ’05. In total, Hall (pictured right) and his S.A.-built Nissans have won 20 Dakar stages since ’02.

With Nissan’s corporate enthusiasm for motorsports in general on the wane in recent years, Hall has been left without major (read: hardly any) funding and in a quandary. How could he keep his operations thriving in a time of severe cutbacks and global recession? The answer is by selling his proven, world class vehicles to the world.

ORC: Glyn, just how many of your South African-built Nissan trucks are currently out there racing around the world?

GH: Twenty-one, in one form or another, with car number 26 on the jig right now. Colin McRae, in the ‘05 Dakar, destroyed car #8, and car #9 was sold to the French Dessoude team for parts, but most of them are still running.

ORC: What is your current relationship with Nissan as a corporate entity?

GH: Because of our recent success, this is the first year we have gotten any monetary support at all, so right now they provide us with a facility to operate from and a minor amount of money … Nissan Motorsport, S.A. and I have both received a lot of recognition from Nissan Japan, but little money so far.

 

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ORC: What are your goals for ’09 and beyond?

GH: Beyond our solid performance at the Dakar earlier this year, it’s to simply be better in ’09 and ’10 than we have been previously, and to continue marketing our Nissan Motorsport, S.A. vehicles to the world.

ORC: Have any of the South African-built Nissan race vehicles been sold to someone in North America?

GH: No, so far we have sold them mainly in Europe and Africa with a couple going to Russia and the Mid-East.

ORC: Is there any reason for that? Would Nissan North America be against you selling one of your race vehicles here given their withdrawal from most motorsports support?

GH: No, not at all. We just haven’t had anyone from North America express an interest in purchasing one. We did have some interest from some South American teams due to our involvement in the Dakar and the introduction of the Navara model there, but nothing official has come of that yet.

ORC: With customers from so many different places, speaking so many different languages, how do you communicate with them all?

GH: Luckily, English truly is the world’s language. Everybody I deal with speaks English, which is a good thing because I can’t speak any of their languages.

ORC: How has business been of late?

GH: ’09 has been the worst year for business in over five years, though ’08 was the best year in the past five. I think, no, I’m hoping that it’s due to the overall economy and that things turn around soon.

ORC: Speaking of North America, do the teams you’re associated with have any plans to come over and race in something like a SCORE Baja or similar race?

GH: Perhaps Team Overdrive (whose S.A.-built Navara’s finished fourth and fifth in the ’09 Dakar) would come with a customer, but our cars are built around FIA specifications so the restrictions might put the cars out of contention.

ORC: In attending numerous Dakar races, you must have bumped into American Robby Gordon. What are your thoughts on him and his race efforts?

GH: Robby has a good team and is a great guy. He has a fantastic spirit and I wish I could get him into one of our Nissans.

 

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ORC: What do you think of his choice to run a 2WD race vehicle?

GH: I think there is a big question as to whether a 2WD vehicle can win the Dakar currently … it can compete but to win would be very difficult. There will always be obstacles that a 2WD vehicle will have to slow down for that a 4WD vehicle will not, and I do not think that the lost time can be made up in the other sections.

ORC: What about his addition of a third race vehicle for the ’10 Dakar?

GH: I think it actually becomes more difficult with three vehicles. I think three vehicles will stretch his operations too thin. A two-vehicle race team was the right balance in my opinion.

ORC: What is the actual cost of a race-ready Navara from Nissan Motorsport, S.A.?

GH: $270,000.

ORC: Any thoughts of going to a diesel version of your race Navara?

GH: No, the development and engineering costs of making a competitive diesel race truck are just too high for the budget we have. We would need major factory support in order to go to a diesel version of our racecar.

ORC: Before this year’s Dakar you were quoted as saying that you were worried about how your petrol-driven vehicles would match up against the turbo diesel competitors when at the high altitudes this year’s course crossed.

GH: Yes, it turns out though that our petrol cars were faster at high altitude than the diesels were. I believe this was due to those vehicles overspinning their turbos.

ORC: Given how familiar you are with the Nissan Navara, you are likely aware of how similar it is to our American Frontier.  I’m sure our American readers would be interested to know about some of the changes you’ve made to your race vehicles.

GH: The base engine (VQ40DE) and headlights [of the race vehicles] are identical to the production version of the Navara/Frontier, and we have retained the rear live axle design. We have had great results with this setup given its simplicity and durability.

ORC: What about the differentials and axles?

GH: The front suspension is a custom IFS setup, but the front and rear differentials are all production Nissan items but not from the Navara. In the front we use the production differential from the petrol version of the Nissan Patrol, and in the rear we have both the production differential and axles from the diesel Nissan Patrol.

ORC: How many people do you have working for you at Nissan Motorsports, S.A.?

GH: Twenty-four.

ORC: And lastly … any job openings?

GH: No, times are a bit tough at the present, and we must move into a new facility later in the year.

ORC: Darn … Thanks for taking the time to speak with us and all the best in your future races and business.

For more info, visit:
http://www.nissanmotorsport.co.za
http://palikracingteam.com
http://www.overdriveracing.be

’09 Dakar—Nissan Motorsports S.A. Built Vehicles

 4th Place Team
Team Overdrive Racing
Nissan Navara
Ivar Erik Tollefsen (NOR)
Quin Evans (GBR)

5th Place Team
Team Overdrive Racing
Nissan Navara
Krzystof Holowczyc (POL)
Jean-Marc Fortin (BEL)

21th Place Team
Team RTL Motorsport Motorsport Klub
Nissan Navara
Laszlo Palik (HUN)
Gabor Darazsi (HUN)