Nissan Motorsport walked off with the night's top award at the inaugural South African Motorsport Industry Association (SAMIA) prize-giving at a function in Centurion (Gauteng) this week. The award, Motorsport Business of the Year, was one of eight that recognised outstanding business and technical achievement within the motor sport industry.
Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport, received the award on behalf of his team – an ultra light-weight trophy specially fashioned from carbon fibre by SAMIA member company, Advanced Composites Group, which was also a prize-winner on the evening – and was particularly thrilled to have it presented to him by the evening's guest speaker, Rory Byrne, Ferrari F1 designer and development consultant. The premier award of the evening was very well received by a distinguished audience that included many high profile figures from both the motor sport industry and Government organisations.
Nissan Motorsport won the prestigious award for its outstanding success in this year's Dakar Rally – in which racing Navaras designed and built by Nissan Motorsport in South Africa finished fourth, fifth and 20th overall - and the 2008 ABSA Off Road Championship, which Nissan won for the eighth successive year with its proudly South African Navara. In addition, Nissan Motorsport was recognised for its export achievement of designing and building racing Navaras for overseas clients who have won many events and several championships in Russia, Europe and the Middle East.
Hall was team manager of the privateer Belgian Team Overdrive whose Nissan Navaras finished fourth and fifth, in the hands of Norwegian Ivar Erik Tollefsen and former Polish rally champion Krzysztof Holowczyc, and was accompanied to South America by three of his technical team, engineer Michael Jardim And technicians Mac Botha and Rocco Hendricks.
Hall, a former South African rally champion and manager of Nissan Motorsport since 1993, said he was honoured to receive the award on behalf of his team. "We are an enthusiastic group of people who love motor sport and live our work. It is a very competitive business and we work long hours and many weekends. When we win it is the best reward for our efforts, but it is also important to earn the respect and recognition of your peers and your colleagues in the motor sport industry.
"We are members of SAMIA and we welcome the establishment of this important body whose aim is to promote the motor sport industry, to attract young people to the industry by offering engineering and technical skills training, and to promote the considerable achievements of our industry, particularly on the overseas stage," Hall added
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