GIBSON MAKES A CLUBMANS RETURN
Category ace brings Nemesis back to the track to prove its pace
Multiple Clubmans champion Dan Gibson says people questioning whether his Nemesis GK18 still had the pace to compete in the Clubmans Sports Prototype Championship was the reason behind his Croft return last weekend.
The car, built by the Gibson Motorsport team run by Dan and father Paul, last competed in the series when Phil Weaver drove it to the title in 2016.
Since then, a slight change in series regulations meant the team had to alter the front suspension to fit the new, shorter, Hankook tyre as well as detune the engine from 225 to 200bhp.
“I had a few people say we’d be a bit slower now with the new regulations so I brought the Nemesis out of retirement just to show what the car’s still got,” Gibson explained.
“We made the changes to fit the new regulations but the car is so adjustable that it didn’t take too much work. The engine has less power now, but the new Hankook tyres have so much grip that you’re probably not losing too much time over a lap.”
Despite Gibson himself not competing in Clubmans since 2014, the Croft local took pole by 1.5 seconds ahead of championship frontrunner Clive Wood and took a pair of wins, only denied a hat-trick by a rear roll bar failure in race three.
Gibson added: “I was off down the road, but as soon as it broke I went straight on. I carried on but it was a lot trickier to drive. The car runs with rake and with the rear roll bar breaking it flattened out a bit, which wasn’t ideal.”