NORMALLY, as a broker supplying pick-ups, you expect them to be used – well, as a pick-up. For building work, that sort of thing.
But when Bristol based broker Van Sales UK supplied a Nissan Navara to SB Motorsport, the company had other ideas. The firm responsible for Europe’s wildest Nissan GT-R Drift had some extra lockdown time on their hands…
SB Motorsport founder and a European drift champion, Stephen ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni, said on a special Navara-R post:
“This project has always been on the cards for SB Motorsport, ever since our initial GT-R project. With racing currently on hold this was the break we needed to revisit the idea and bring it to fruition.
“The Navara-R, as we have already dubbed it, will challenge our in-house know-how. With this build, the aim is to keep the Navara road-legal, all the mod-cons of the vehicle, rather than creating a race-car chassis with minimal extras.”
The plan is for the donor Navara to maintain as much of its factory finish interior as possible. However with nearly 1000bhp, the chassis will use the suspension set up from the GT-R.
Van Sales UK managing director, Chris Jakeways, commented:
“It is a shame they only wanted the vehicle for the chassis! But I’m sure it will be worth it.”
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
