Ultimate drift
"Before joining Nissan, I worked as an aluminium diecast engineer, a mechanic, a welder – and now I'm a Senior Engineer for Suspension parts. So yeah, I've had quite a few jobs!" As echoed by his C.V, John Kerr is man utterly committed to the art of car suspension. However, while his day job centres around finding the perfect balance of ride and handling for Nissan's latest vehicles – he has a hobby which allows him to leverage his specialist knowledge even further.
"With modern road cars, you're usually trying to achieve the most comfortable ride possible, whilst maintaining a good level of handling ability for responsiveness and safety. When developing drift cars, however, it's a bit different." Enter John's passion – drift cars – one he discovered as a nineteen-year-old in Ireland when he got his first taste of the British Drift Car Championship. "It all started when I got asked by a friend be part of his team for the Championship, changing tyres, adapting the suspension, that kind of thing. Then, after witnessing the excitement of the sport up close, I decided to have a go myself and purchased an original, unmodified Nissan Skyline shortly after back in 2006."
Still a student at the time with little money to fund his new-found hobby, John was forced to develop and manufacture his own suspension parts in his garage. He found a deep satisfaction in the process, which vastly improved his understanding of the effect of suspension set ups on the handling of a car. "My curiosity certainly began at that time, before I decided that joining Nissan would be a great way to develop my interest even further."
When John moved from his home in Ireland to the UK in 2010, there was no doubt in his mind that his work-in-progress Skyline was coming with him. He began competing in the British Drift Car Championship soon after, but quickly found that further refinement of his car was need. "I was just sticking the car on the trailer, heading off for the weekend, taking part and coming home again. I realised the car didn't have enough power, the suspension wasn't right, and that I needed to go back to the drawing board, basically." And back John went, investing another two years in remodifying the engine with a larger turbo-charger to increase power and remodelling the suspension to get the car to its present form.
As for the sport of drifting, most commonly associated with Fast and the Furious-type movies, John is keen to correct some common misconceptions. "Drifting is often portrayed as a race, but it isn't at all. It is a battle between two drivers which is all about how well one can mimic the other with points given for speed, angle and precision. Unlike rallying, spectators can see everything on a closed circuit with drivers scored out of ten for their performance." From its humble enthusiast-only origins, drifting has become one of the most popular motor sports in Europe. "We have three championships in the UK, two in Ireland and three or four across wider Europe. It's getting bigger and bigger each year – largely because anyone can buy a rear-wheel drive car and show up!"
For John, however, his satisfaction comes not from winning battles but from manufacturing his own parts and indulging his passion for the Nissan brand's heritage. "I think it's important to celebrate what we've done in the past as a company. I've had the opportunity to spend some time in Japan, even speaking to some of the guys that designed parts of the Nissan Skyline that I own! They even gave me some tips on how to setup the car – which was pretty amazing."
Finally, John believes that his unique experience with drift cars continues to give him the edge in his day job. "When I first started in the job, a car we were developing may not have behaving quite the right way and I couldn't quite understand the mechanism behind it. Since further developing my knowledge in the area of suspension – both through on-the-job training and tinkering with my drift car – I feel like it's getting easier and easier to put my finger on the problem." With Nissan's Nismo heritage in motorsport spanning some 55 years and the Skyline retaining a cult status in both original and modern iterations, it's people like John who guarantee that this passion will keep on burning for decades to come.
