On The Race Circuit With MINI GT

CastHeads Creative Director Nigel De Zilwa hits the race circuit with two new MINI GT Pre-releases and discovers their true home.

It was a bit like re-leasing baby sea turtles back into the wild ocean. You know those animal videos where the sun light flares across the camera lens and the sound of the ocean crashing onto the beach as the cameraman focuses his high definition lens on the baby turtles in a close up so close you can almost taste the freedom. That was pretty much, the scene at the CastHeads test circuit as we unboxed this beautiful John Player Special liveried Nissan GTR R35 in an LBWK body kit that Mini GT is now super famous for. And the ACURA NSX GT3 EVO Class Winner of IMSA driven at Watkins Glen #86.

Why does CastHeads have a test track? Well, all the cool car journalism brands have one. And, what’s the point of having wheels that roll if you haven’t got a place to roll them?

The JPS Nissan GTR is one of those models that, if you do not get it now you might regret it. It’s impossible to see how this caramel black colored beauty covered in golden pinstripe lines highlighting the aerodynamic lines of the car, a realistic carbon hood and generous JPS branding will not be one of MINI GT’s best sellers. As it is, they are killing it in the LBWK market and have slowly become the main brand for this category of cars not forgetting the reams of Nissan GTR’s in LBWK bodies they keep churning out.

And it’s not like we can stop buying them! Each one even more desirable than the last. It has been so commonplace that collectors around the world have developed a reflex action called the GTR Reflex. It is where you go online and do your model purchases but inexplicably you will always have ordered one LBWK Nissan GTR from MINI GT. Like going out for eggs and coming back with eggs and one, LBWK Nissan GTR from MINIGT.

The ACURA never looked more comfortable than on the road with the spectator pavilions in the background. I love Pink on Black combinations and because the guys at MINI GT spend a lot of time at the paint shop getting the colors right you can always be sure of great paint finish from these guys.

Casting details are also pretty slick with nothing out of place, nothing coming off everything is in the right place and the car looks phenomenally good. But having looked at a lot of MINI GT’s I can hardly say I am surprised. Which is why I keep harping on, about these guys being the next big brand in the hobby and soon set to unseat TLVN just a bit. They will not do it with cars because of TLVN’s license portfolio but purely on price. I would rather buy the Nissan GTR JPS over the TLVN 50th Anniversary Nissan GTR. And again, this is not a comparison of two cars this boils down to what I would want in my collection to look at.

(David Attenborough voice) And so, having traveled half the world to get here it is plain to see that they belong, and they know it themselves. They will survive and they will repeat the entire process over and over again.