to take on 2011 London Marathon challengeThey are used to driving the Nissan GT-R incredibly fast around some of the world’s leading circuits, but three of the drivers amongst Nissan’s 2011 GT1 World Championship line-up will be racing at an altogether slower pace this coming Sunday (17th April), as Jamie Campbell-Walter, Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook swap their racing boots for running trainers to tackle the 31st annual London Marathon.
The British trio are running the marathon alongside five other members of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), with the aim of raising a combined £50,000 for the ‘Cystic Fibrosis Trust’, the UK's only national charity dedicated to all aspects of the common, life-shortening inherited disease. However, despite this shared bond and a close friendship off the track, none of the drivers expect either of their two Nissan team-mates to do them any favours around the 26.2 mile course on Sunday…
Peter and Richard went head-to-head in as drivers for rival teams in last year’s marathon: Peter as a driver for Nissan in the no.23 Sumo Power GT, and Richard in a Matech Ford GT. This year, although they are now share driving duties in the no.22 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R, the rivalry between the two men is sure to be just as fierce.
“Richard beat me in last year’s marathon and hasn’t let me forget it since – he ribs me about it constantly!” explains Peter Dumbreck. “I think I underestimated just how hard it would be in 2010, and my ego was quite badly deflated when I picked up a bit of a strain en route, meaning my time wasn’t nearly as good as I’d hoped for.
“This year I’ve been training much harder, eating properly – plenty of carb-rich foods such as pasta - and not drinking any alcohol, so I think I’m in pretty good shape. I’ve got a target time of 3.15 in mind, and I admit that it would also be nice to beat Richard’s time to settle the score a bit!”
Richard Westbrook said: “I can’t say that I didn’t take a small bit of pleasure in beating Peter last year, but I think it will be much tougher to do so this time round, as he’s looking really fast! As a personal target, l’d just be happy to beat the time of 3.37 I got last year.
“It was a fantastic experience running the marathon in 2010- the atmosphere throughout the course was absolutely electric and you could really feel the support of the crowd- so I’m looking forward to getting a repeat of that buzz this year.”
For Jamie Campbell-Walter, driver of the no.21 Sumo Power GT, this year’s marathon will be his first, and it was something that he wasn’t counting on doing as recently as January. He said: “I certainly didn’t have any plans to run a marathon, ever, and then I got collared by a couple of guys from the BRDC at the Autosport show at the start of the year, who casually asked me if I’d be interested in taking part. After a bit of email banter I told them I’d help out only if they couldn’t find enough people elsewhere, and then before I knew it I noticed my name was mentioned in the ‘confirmed runners’ list!
“To be honest, I’ve enjoyed the training, though running is something we do as part of driver training anyway. It’s been tough at times, but it’s certainly beneficial on the racing front, as I think that the fitter you are, the better you’re likely to drive. Hopefully this training will also help me in the Sumo Power GT for the remainder of the season!”
If you’d like to support the drivers’ efforts in the marathon by donating some money to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, please click on their ‘JustGiving’ link: https://www.justgiving.com/brdc-marathon2011/
