With a little over a month to go before the Australian V8 Supercars head to Mount Panorama for the Bathurst 1000, Nissan is taking a moment to honor a major achievement of one of its past drivers. In 1984, George Fury gave Nissan its first-ever pole at the legendary racing cuircuit, and he did so by breaking the track’s lap record.
In his 1984 Nissan Bluebird, Fury set the fasted lap at the 1984 Bathurst 1000 with a lap time of 2m 13.85s – for comparison, last year’s pole time was set at 2m 07.88s. Current Nissan V8 Supercars driver Michael Caruso had a chance to sit down with Fury to talk about the importance of that record. The coolest part of the video is watching the two drivers check out the other’s racecar.
Since Fury took the pole in 1984, Nissan has gone on to capture two additional pole positions at the track (in 1986 and 1991) and bring home a win as many times (in 1991 and 1992), all of which were performed in a Nissan GT-R. To pay homage to Fury and his Bluebird, the Norton-sponsored Nissan Altima will trade in its black and yellow paint job for a retro-inspired scheme with a white paint job and red and blue stripes.
“In the past two years at Nissan Motorsport, we’ve done some fantastic activities, but this one tops them all. I feel extremely honored to carry the Nissan colors from back in 1984. Bathurst has so many great memories, and George putting the Bluebird on pole was a special moment. This is our way to celebrate that feat,” said Caruso.
Nissan posted a video of the conversation between Caruso and Fury as well as some footage of Fury driving his record-setting Bluebird around the track. Fury and his former racecar will be back at the track for the 2014 Bathurst 1000 running from October 9-12 for a unique on-track demonstration of the car.
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