DOWN THE WORKSHOP
SUPER TOURING NISSAN PRIMERA Current owner: Richardwheeler
It’s the ex-david Leslie car This is David Leslie’s 1999 works car, run by RML for Nissan, in which he finished second in the British Touring Car Championship to team-mate Laurent Aiello. Tommy Rustad then won the Swedish Touring Car Championship in it in 2000 for Crawford Motorsport and in 2001 it ran in Sweden again for a customer.
Dave Jarman acquired it After a season in the European Touring Car Championship in 2002, Dave Jarman bought the Primera from Crawford Motorsport. “I got it in 2002 when it finished the last round of the ETCC,” says Jarman. “I kept it for two or three seasons and raced it in Formula Saloons, and then I sold it on.”
Jarman bought it back “Later, my friend Keith Butcher bought it in around 2009/2010 when we started the Super Touring series,” says Jarman. “I had the red ex-matt Neal Dynamics car from 1998 but then some guys in New Zealand wanted to buy that. I only sold the Neal car knowing I could buy the Leslie car back from Keith. So I bought it from him three years ago but I never had two at the same time.”
It is a strong package The Primeras were widely regarded as one of the best cars of the era and this one is still very original with the same ECU and the same datalogger. The engines are done by Dave Hill from Mountune, who built them in period. It has recently been sold to Richard Wheeler for the 2019 Dunlop Saloon Car Cup season. “When I sold the car I was pleased that it was going to stay in the UK and be raced,” says Jarman.
Richardwheeler now owns it “The first motorsport I got into was the BTCC in the 1990s and I’m a big Nissan fan” says Wheeler. “So when this car came up it was absolutely perfect. I can only manage three or four race weekends a year to due to family and business, so the DSCC is ideal with eight races in four weekends. John Danby Racing is going to run it for me and I’m really looking forward to racing it.”
Wheeler is new to Super Touring “I only started racing three years ago with the Classic Sports Car Club and had a Ford Fiesta and a Lotus Elan,” says Wheeler. “Jake Hill won at the Silverstone Classic last year driving my Elan.”