Nissan Juke takes Goodwood on two wheels

STUNT Driver Terry Grant achieved a claimed two-wheeled record on the famous hill-climb at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK – only he didn’t set the time on a motorcycle.

The tyre-shredding British showman, who has claimed 15 driving world records in his 16-year stunt-driving career, instead navigated a Nissan Juke SUV over the treacherous one-mile (1.6km) course with only the driver’s-side front and rear wheels touching the bitumen.

The fastest finish time Mr Grant managed was 2 min 55 secs, after which he performed the stunt another four times with passengers including circuit commentator Amanda Stretton, Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony and Australian stunt rider Robbie Maddison.

Although pictures of Mr Grant in action make the record attempt look effortless, he said it was in fact, “bloody hard work”.

“If you know what you're doing, driving a car on two wheels in a straight line is comparatively easy. But the Goodwood course has corners, inclines and obstacles... there are trees and walls everywhere. I nearly rolled it on every run."

Getting the Nissan crossover onto two wheels was achieved with the use of a steep ramp, situated just before the first corner – a particularly sharp right-hander.

Mr Grant said that was where it started to become difficult: “I had to tease it round, knowing that if I turned the wheel too far - or touched the grass - I'd be on the roof. Not enough and it would fall back onto all four wheels,” he said.

"Driving on two wheels is like driving with one hand over your left eye and another hand obscuring half the right – from where I was, tucked down on the right of the car, all I could see was the bonnet of the car and a bit of sky.”

The unmodified factory Juke used in the stunt had to be fitted with a brand new set – or more accurately, a pair – of tyres before each run.

The extraordinary piece of driving is pending Guinness World Records ratification as the fastest four-wheeled machine to climb the course on two wheels.

Continuing the daredevil theme, Mr Grant then lapped the nearby Goodwood race circuit in a Nissan Leaf EV – completely in reverse, reaching a top speed of 100km/h.

This is possible due to the Leaf’s unconventional single-speed transmission, which theoretically allows it to reach the same top speed going backwards as it can going forwards.

With the Leaf’s claimed top speed being 145km/h, there is scope for another attempt at a reverse lap. Nissan has confirmed it is looking at future record attempts.