“I grew up within the PlayStation period – even to today I play Gran Turismo. The Nissan Skyline was at all times my dream automotive, and it’s the favorite of those who I’ve pushed.”
British Touring Automotive Championship star Jake Hill was in all probability by no means going to decide on the NGTC Volkswagen CC because the machine that will get his mouth salivating. However alongside the aggressive weaponry he’s extra just lately taken to 12 BTCC race wins, there’s a complete squadron of historic exotica he has raced or examined. And it’s Ric Wooden’s recreation of Kazuyoshi Hoshino’s 1990 All-Japan Touring Automotive title-winning Skyline GT-R that tops them.
“I’m fortunate sufficient to personal a Skyline – I purchased one in 2017, and my love for them simply grew additional, regardless of them being an enormous ache within the arse!” he laughs. “However nonetheless, Ric’s race automotive is simply insane. The Group A period is my favorite of touring automobiles anyway, and I feel there’s no extra well-known Japanese Touring Automotive than the Calsonic Skyline.
“Sure, it’s not the unique, however my God it’s as near it as you will get. I completely adore it, and it’s certainly one of my favorite racing automobiles full cease, it actually lights my hearth.
“I first obtained the supply to drive it on the Oulton Park Gold Cup in 2019. I used to be on a wine tour with Hannah [Hill’s fiancee] and her household, and I obtained a name from Ric saying, ‘Are you able to come up this weekend? I’d actually such as you to drive the Skyline.’
“I went as much as Oulton Park and jumped in it for qualifying. It was nonetheless plagued with some points – it was a reasonably new mission for Ric then, however I’ll always remember the smile on my face once I drove it out of the pitlane.
“In 2020 we did the Goodwood SpeedWeek when there have been no followers. We did a one-lap time assault on the circuit, and we completed sixth general and prime touring automotive, and that’s actually what put me and the Skyline on the centre stage.
Driving the Chevron additionally holds particular recollections for Hill, however it may’t fairly match the Skyline in his estimations
Photograph by: Peter Auto
“Then in a while I drove the HKS-liveried Skyline – identical factor, simply totally different livery – on the Pageant of Pace in 2021, and I drove the Calsonic automotive this 12 months on the Pageant of Pace. I’ve raced it a few instances with Ric, like at Spa, however on the entire it’s a mission that’s an actual privilege to have been concerned with and I completely adore it.”
Whereas Hill charges the monstrous Skyline as his favorite to drive, there are a few different historic racers that he charges for his or her refinement.
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“The Skyline ticks all of the bins for me, however there’s one thing about driving a race automotive that’s so pure, and the Chevron B26 that I race fairly frequently with Simon Watts in Peter Auto occasions matches into that,” he states.
“On the entire it’s a mission that’s an actual privilege to have been concerned with and I completely adore it” Jake Hill
“That chassis is simply unimaginable – it’s obtained the right mixture of mechanical and slight aero grip, it’s super-lightweight, an incredible 2.0-litre engine and Hewland gearbox, and it’s only a actual honour to drive that factor.
“And it’s the same story with the Ralt RT3 F3 automotive, one of many few single-seaters I’ve pushed. Tremendous-light once more, a very fashionable automotive again within the day, and this one was Tommy Byrne’s Shell automotive that he drove again in interval [on his way to the 1982 British title]. It stands out as one of many nicest automobiles to drive.
“It was by a buddy of mine – he had a buyer and he wanted to do some information, so he mentioned, ‘Lets simply soar in it and do a few periods?’ It was on the Manufacturers Hatch Indy circuit in 2019, and it felt pretty.”
A disgrace for Hill, then, that he was born in 1994 and couldn’t drive any of those automobiles in interval: “I used to be undoubtedly born within the flawed period, that’s for positive. The Nineteen Nineties had been nice – I like that period of automobiles. They’re my favorite Le Mans automobiles, my favorite F1 automobiles, and undoubtedly my favorite touring automobiles.”
Hill is unfazed by leaping into totally different historic automobiles, and observe examined a Ford Galaxie, Ford Lotus Cortina and Jaguar MKII earlier this 12 months
Photograph by: Jakob Ebrey