As the film “Gran Turismo” nears its release, there’s a sense of inspiration to turn our dreams into reality. Silverstone Auctions is offering a unique opportunity for one fortunate bidder to own the car that Jann Mardenborough, whose story the film portrays, drove both on the track and on screen.
This Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 is currently owned by Darren Cox, the creator of the GT Academy, who Orlando Bloom’s character is based on in the film. However, it started life as a real life Nissan Europe works racecar.
Through its career, it has raced in a wide variety of events, including the Nürburgring 24 hours in 2015, where it finished an impressive ninth overall—Nissan’s best result in recent memory. First painted white, it was then changed to black, to honor the memory of a spectator who was tragically killed at an earlier Nürburgring Endurance Series (VLN) race, following an accident involving Mardenborough and another GT-R GT3 driver.
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Since retiring from racing, it has been painted white again, and was most recently used in promotional material, as well as on-screen for the film “Gran Turismo,” which tells Mardenborough’s rise from sim racer to real life racer.
Although the role of Mardenborough is played by Archie Madekwe, Mardenborough’s driving skills can be seen on screen. He got to relive his story, and return to this car’s racing seat, as one of the stunt drivers for the film.
Offered for sale by Silverstone Auctions, the company calls this a rare opportunity to own a piece of movie history as the movie is being released. Generally, production companies hang on to their screen cars, in case they need to use them again for a sequel. Since this is one of a small number of privately owned Nissan GT3 cars, film buffs and racing fans have the opportunity to bid on this piece of movie memorabilia now.
The car is being offered in race-ready condition, meaning that it could be a part of someone’s static museum collection, or it could go right back into competition in the GT Cup, Masters, or other racing series. As a result, estimates suggest that when this lot crosses the auction block on August 25 (just two weeks after the movie premieres on August 11) it will sell for between £225,000 and £275,000 ($288,651 to $352,796 USD at current exchange rates).
