An Interview with Jann Mardenborough on the Nissan stand at Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.
I got the opportunity to interview Jann Mardenborough, the European winner of the 2011 GT Academy. This online PlayStation challenge has catapulted Jann from bedroom gamer to real racing driver in just a few months. This was an opportunity to see how much Janns life has changed in the 12 months since his win.
Before meeting him, I got a chance to try out the GT Academy simulator, playing the game that changed Jann’s life, I have to confess that I have played Gran Turismo at home before so I thought I at least wouldn’t disgrace myself and may even get somewhere on the leaderboard for the day. Jann appeared at my side just as i was heading into a wall on the 3rd crash of my 2nd lap, “If you follow the line on the road that’s the racing line, it’s the best line to take” Jann said, offering some encouragement, I knew this already, but from my performance I was looking like a complete stranger to a steering wheel, so played along. With a few pointers from Jann, I was able to shave 10 seconds off my lap times, but I was still another 10 seconds short of anywhere near the leader board. Saved from disgrace by Jann’s guidance, and with a rare break from the rain that had soaked the event over the weekend, we headed off to the paddock, for a quick interview just before Jann’s final run of the Nissan GTR for the day.
DRIVE – Congratulations on winning the GT Academy, It must have been be a pretty life changing event for you. What do your friends and family think of your success?
JANN – My friends and family love it. My mum and dad try to come to as many races as they can, and this year they’ve been to every single race. I thought my mum at the start might be a bit iffy with the dangerous side of motorsport, but after sitting down with her and talking about all the safety measure in place such as roll cages & fireproof suits, now she’s pretty calm with it, which in turn makes me more relaxed, and lets me get on at race weekends and do what I do, rather than worry about what my mother thinks!
As for my mates, they just think I’m normal Jann, the same guy who they used to know who just happens to race cars now, they don’t see me as some kind of superhero, which is great, it’s how I like it to be!
DRIVE – You must travel around the world a lot now, do you get chance to get home much or, as I see you have your Mum here with you today, do you get a chance to bring people out with you?
JANN – Yes, Nissan GB have given me the opportunity to bring a +1 so I’ve brought mum today as she hasn’t been to an event like this, they call it the Goodwood of the north, and weather wise i can see why!
When I do go home, I spend time with my mates, at the moment I’m living in Cardiff so when I’m not doing exercise, events or racing, I’m just chilling out, relaxing with my mates. So… loving that!
DRIVE – So you’re used to driving some pretty fast cars on the track, what do you drive off the track?
JANN – Off the track, I drive a Nissan JUKE, 1.6 petrol car, with my name plastered across the side of it with GT Academy branding all over it, Its white with a black bonnet, It looks a bit like a Panda car, I love it, Nissan GB gave me that car, it has a CD player and I don’t have to jump start it every so often, which certainly beats the old car!
DRIVE – What was the old Car?
JANN – the old car was a 1991 BMW E30 318is, which I still have, It taught me how to drive properly and I plan to keep that forever!
DRIVE – So you’re a young driver, what do you think about the cost of motor insurance for young drivers today?
JANN – well its extortionate what insurance companies are charging young drivers per year for basic policies, I bought my first car when I was 18, the car cost me £1450 but the cheapest quote I found was £3200, it was crazy!
DRIVE – So when you first insured, you weren’t a racing driver, do you think your insurance premium would change now that you’re a professional driver?
JANN – I had the opportunity recently to ask Eddie Irvine a similar question, his response was that the premium actually goes up, because you’re more likely to have a famous person next to you in the car, and somehow that means your insurance goes up!!!, so yeah that’s unfortunate!
DRIVE – so you’ve travelled around a few circuits now, any favourite places?
JANN – the Nurburgring in Germany was absolutely fantastic, I’ve always wanted to drive the
Nordschleife, I didn’t get to drive that, I drove the GP track, but where its situated in the middle of the countryside, with forests and mountains, then you come across this media plastered racetrack, with fantastic facilities, it’s definitely one of the best places I’ve been to so far, that and Dubai, to race in Dubai was just one the best things ever!
DRIVE – Anywhere coming up? anywhere you’d like to race?
JANN – Le Mans and Spa, this year I’ll be entering a 24 hour race so I’m looking forward to that!
DRIVE – today you’re racing the Nissan GTR, and you also race the NISMO GT 3, is there a big difference?
JM – Massively different, the Nismo is a proper race car, whereas the GTR is normally 4 wheel drive, the Nismo 3 is rear wheel drive, and it weighs 1300 Kg so its a lot lighter than the road car, but it uses the same engine, the Nismo produces about 550Hp. The one similarity that I found interesting was the rear disks and the rear callipers are the same as the race car, just with a different pad, which I found pretty good, the brakes on the road car are quite powerful, but the GTR is an amazing car!
DRIVE – How do you prepare for races?
JM – During my training last year, they sat me down and taught me how to prepare for races, I have an online schedule where I plan what I’m going to do before I get to a race weekend, so it’s things like visualise race track laps, visualise what’s going to happen, so if I’m going to say hi to my family then I plan for that so im not taken by surprise if anything untoward happens, I plan as much as possible for the event and when I get there if something does arise, I’m not taken aback by it and I can concentrate fully on the race. Preparation is major, it’s the key!
DRIVE – So once you’ve prepared do you do anything just prior to the race to either chill yourself out or psyche yourself up, such as listen to music?
JANN – Yeah, Last weekend at Rockingham I thought at the next race weekend I might listen to some saxophone music as that relaxes me a little bit, so I might try that next weekend at Brands hatch and see what it’s like!
DRIVE – What do you do in your downtime, if you get any that is?
JANN – I do get a small amount of downtime, I’m just like any other 20 year old!
DRIVE – Do you still play Gran Turismo?
JANN – yeah, I like to chill out, my hobbies are playing games or working on my old car, Seeing friends and listening to music, I’m not too different to any other 20 year old guy, apart from I race cars at the weekend for Nissan!
DRIVE – So what does a Normal Day consist of for you?
JANN – I try to keep to a schedule, So I train for at least an hour every day, just to keep myself trim, and then when that’s done I either go out and see friends or come to PR events like this, so it’s a good split between normal life and events like this!
DRIVE– So winning the GT Academy has obviously helped you out and given you a boost up into world of motor racing, do you think any of the other drivers resent you or think you’ve had it easy to get to this level?
JANN – I think so, I think definitely there are young drivers who might think ‘yeah he’s had it easy, he hasn’t had to troll really hard through Karts and hasn’t had to scrape a budget together from sponsorship’, but the majority of those drivers have had years of experience through karting and I’ve never had the experience to do that a young age. But I’m trying to get the respect from other racing drivers, I think that’s one of the biggest things for a racing driver to have, is to have respect for other drivers, and being accepted in the general racing world because its quite a small world is really important and I think I’m getting towards that which is fantastic!
DRIVE – Thanks Jann – Good luck with the next race, hope you do well!
JANN – Thanks!
More Details of how to follow the GT Academy in Europe 2012 are available on various platforms including:
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Read More on Drive.co.uk The Big Race 830,000 Enter NISSAN and Playstation® GT Academy 2012
or more about the Mind Blowing Nissan Juke R on Drive.co.uk/Nissan
