Kazunori Yamauchi Struggles to an Epic Class Victory at the Nurburgring 24h

by Giuseppe Nelva on June 26, 2011 10:13 AM 5

The twenty-four hours-long drama has come to an end. Perseverance and determination paid out as the #71 Schulze Motorsport Nissan GT-R finished in 36th position overall, earning an epic Victory in the SP 8T class. At the wheel were Kazunori Yamauchi (Creator of the Gran Turismo series), Michael Schulze, Tobias Schulze and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto.

Yamauchi’s team had a great race yesterday and last night, but they started to pay the toll of wear and tear this morning. The GT-R was forced to undergo some very long pit stops to clear various mechanical troubles.
Despite the problems the team didn’t give up and continued to rely on the strong points of their GT-R (and it was the first time for a Nissan GT-R to take part in the Nurburgring 24h), battling against opponents of the caliber of Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell (both ex F1 drivers) on their #235 Golf GT of the official Volkswagen team, and eventually coming up on top.

When the car crossed the finish line Kazunori Yamauchi was at the wheel.
This fantastic victory against the odds adds further prestige to the Gran Turismo brand, after the 2nd Place in the LMP2 class at the Le Mans 24h race scored by a team including Lucas Ordoñez, winner of the 2009 edition GT Academy.

If you missed the race and want to read our extensive hour by hour coverage you can find it here and here. Also, congratulations to the Manthey Racing Porsche team that brought home the overall victory.
Now, Yamauchi-san, can we have that lovely GT-R as a DLC in Gran Turismo 5? Thank you.
Update: while the leaderboards shown on TV displayed the #71 GT-R as ranked 37th overall, the official results published after the race show the team as ranked 36th. #7 BMW M3 GT of BMW Motorsport that was previously shown as ranked 27th has been disqualified, improving the official overall position of Team Schulze’s GT-R to 36th.
Update 2: Kazunori Yamauchi posted on his personal twitter account: “The Nurburgring 24 hour race was dramatic and a lot happened during the last leg. Class victory goes to the GT-R. Thanks a lot for the congratulatory messages. Time for the awards ceremony now.”

You’re very welcome Yamauchi-san, and thank you for showing us such an awesome performance!

Jerry Seinfeld: Grand Marshal for Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV

<small>October 11, 2011 by Andrew Bornhop</small>
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has one of the most significant Porsche collections in the world, has joined retired Porsche engineer Norbert Singer as co-Grand Marshal for this weekend’s Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Seinfeld, who’s bringing a number of his most-prized cars to Rennsport, was honored. “Norbert Singer is one Porsche’s most brilliant innovators and someone I have always wanted to meet. I am thrilled to join him in Monterey for Rennsport IV as Co-Grand Marshal,” said Seinfeld.

Seinfeld’s participation is particularly appropriate as Rennsport IV is honoring the Porsche 911. Included in his collection is the first production 911 (1964) and the last production air-cooled 911—a 1998 993 that he bought from the factory—the last 993 to roll down the assembly line.

His collection, a mixture of street cars and race cars, includes a street-version Porsche 959 (not legal to drive in the U.S.) – one of only 200 ever built. Others include the Porsche 917K that Steve McQueen drove in the movie Le Mans, a 1959 straight-16 GT speedster; and a 1955 Spyder 550 — the same model and pearl-grey color actor as the James Dean car.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is the world’s largest gathering of Porsche race cars (and the drivers that drove them to victory), held from October 14 to 16, 2011. Hosted by Porsche Cars North America, it will feature a wide variety of historic racing Porsches, everything from the nimble 550 Spyder of the mid-1950s through the mighty 917 and 956/962 of the 1970s and 1980s to the RS Spyder of the last decade. Also, a special tribute will be paid to the numerous racing versions of the Porsche 911.