Charities score from 24 Hour
2012-06-19 07:22
RACING FOR CHARITY: The Nissan cars racing in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race were racking up good-cause money with every lap.
LONDON, England - The 14 Nissan-powered cars running at the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hour at the weekend, including nine of the top 10 finishers in the LMP2 class, covered a combined total of 31 732 miles - nearly 51 000km
And that was seriously good news for three charity organisations which will share the equivalent of about R416 000.
Nissan pledged £1 (about R13) per mile completed by each of its cars in the endurance event, so will have to write substantial cheques for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, the Afghanistan Trust and Mission Motorsport.
'PIONEER' DELTAWING
The SSAFA Forces Help logo was given a prime location on the Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN driven by Martin Brundle alongside his son Alex and Nissan PlayStation GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez from Spain. Ex-F1 driver and Le Mans winner Martin Brundle brought the car home eighth in class after it had completed 4600im - 340 laps.
The heroic Nissan DeltaWing completed just over 1000km before contact with the Toyota LMP1 car forced "the most pioneering motorsport innovation in a generation" to retire after six hours of racing. The car has enjoyed an enthusiastic following of fans, captivated by its striking shape and pioneering mission "to complete the race using half fuel and tyres of any other car on the grid".
“It is a fantastic achievement that nine of the 13 Nissan-powered LMP2 cars completed one of the toughest races in the world,” said Nissan Motor (GB) MD Jim Wright.
“It was a shame that the DeltaWing’s time on track was cut short, given that it was running so well, but we are very proud that the speed and reliability of our engines has helped raise a significant donation for three wonderful charities.”
