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2013 GT-R Experience @ Monitcello NY Video

11K views 30 replies 15 participants last post by  MC 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)


MONTICELLO, NY - GT-R owners revved up to the Monticello Motor Club in New York for the third ever GT-R Experience. This is an invitation-only event for current and future owners; it is as unique as the car that starred in the show. New York was the third event in the series, the first was at Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida and the second was at Laguna Seca Roadway in Southern California.

The GT-R experience, hosted by Nissan, featured on site driver's ed from Skip Barber driving instructors, autocrossing and other drills for owners, and would-be owners, to put the 2013 to the test. "Clearly this is the kind of place where you can explore the capabilities of the car," said Carl Phillips, Nissan North America's Chief Marketing Manager for the GT-R.

Kelly Heaphy loves a challenge. Growing up Heaphy's mom raced Corvettes. At this event, Heaphy got a chance to push her favorite car, the Nissan GT-R, to its limits at the track. "I kind of like, hey look boys I can do better than you are, and definitely this car turns heads, you know blonds in a bright red car, who is that? Wait, wait what's going on and they really want to keep up with you," said Heaphy.

Heaphy's friend Andy Morris owns the car she drove at the event; it is his second GT-R. "This is a car I can afford, I can drive hard, I can replace the parts without having the expense of a true exotic and it performs as good or better than most of those cars," said Morris.

Morris and Heaphy turned their GT-R experience into a competition, complete with trash talk and time challenges. "If we had another car I would totally win," taunted Heaphy. "But you don't like to compete," replied Morris. At the owners event, Morris took on the drag races and followed the leader. Heaphy did the auto-cross and the slalom exercises. Then they both did hot laps coached by world-class professional drivers from the Skip Barber Driving School.

"I know I am better than some of these guys. I mean I love cars. I live, sleep, dream everything about cars, and for me this is vacation," said Heaphy. But the car tricks were not actually Heaphy and Morris's favorite part of their GT-R Experience. It was meeting the legendary Kazutoshi Mizuno, the chief engineer behind of the GT-R.

"I think the opportunity to meet Mizuno is probably the best thing here because I had no idea I was even going to get that opportunity," said Heaphy. "Our GT-R team gets energy from customers so these kind of events make good energy for us," said Mizuno-san.

Mizuno-san plans to keep improving his creation for at least five more years. And he said as long as customers keep buying the GT-R's, drivers will get to keep experiencing this unique event.
 
#4 ·
In that video is our very own member McDuck and his friend Kelly.. Nissan was smart to choose to cover them in the vid. I think both of them represented the brand image Nissan was going for
 
#7 ·
I was reading that this event is invitation only and that Nissan provides you with a 2013, helmet, jacket and some other swag. Is that correct? I guess invites go out to current owners? Is there an event schedule out there somewhere?
 
#14 ·
You guys are lucky to get Mizuno-san! He couldn't make it to CA because of the 2014 testing they had to do in Japan....
But I had a chance to speak to Takahashi-san for about 30 minutes and it was awesome!
 
#15 ·
yeah koji was great i sent something up to NY to get him to sign but he didnt make the trip :( dont know why i didnt get him to sign my helmet or something in FL even though i didnt have my car
 
#17 ·
OK, YouTube does not like my big video. Anyone got a recommendation of where to post a 4GB 45min long video and allows me to share as link on the forum? If not, I'm going to have to split the Mizuno video into 4 or 5 parts to put up on YouTube.
 
#18 ·
I think Vimeo will allow longer video lengths.
 
#20 ·
McDuck, you are a video phenom now! Fun to see that. Looks like another great event. I really want to make it to Laguna Seca next year.
Car might even be broken in by then.
Where would I get invite from, my dealer? I want to mark the calendar now in black ink.
 
#21 ·
Ha... not sure about a phenom... I know how much footage they shot to get that short snipit of me.
Hopefully there will be a little bit more in the longer video that is yet to come.
 
#24 ·
Great event, and video! We should make a "Like" button like facebook, lol...Great turn out for the event, Big thumbs up to Nissan marketing!
 
#28 ·
MC don't forget to find out when the GT-R meet is @ the Nurburgring, I will be in Frankfurt from Sep 10th to about the 16th. I will gladly take a drive to the Ring!!
 
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