Andrew Campbell – A Nissan S14 Built For The Climb

Put together the power of a track car with a scenic and challenging track through the hills, you get what we call a hill climb race. It is the ultimate test of driving skills, courage and car ability. In today’s feature, we will talk to Andrew who has built something for the climb.

Let’s begin with a quick intro and the story behind your Nissan Silvia S14 build

Hi, I’m Andrew Campbell and this is the build of my Nissan Silvia S14. Basically, I started it as a replacement shell for my drift car, but after being able to fix that with the help of an excavator, I hid the shell for a few months in the shed. After a few ideas, I decided to build the car using a selection of spare drift car parts around the house.

The original car was a money limited, simple build but then overtime and extra work came in so that went out the window and I decided to build something fancier and into a grip/circuit car.

When did you start the build?

I started the build in September 2015 and it was just a rolling shell with a motor, 6 weeks later, everything was fabricated up at Purpose Built Motorsport, then it was off to Garage7 for a full rewire and tune.

At the 10th week mark it was event day and had its debut in the Legend Of The Lakes Hill climb where it was rather interesting to have such power and drive difference to what I was used to in the drift car. Finishing 6th in class that year I bettered that with some stiff competition to claim a very close second position… always seeming to finish second and within the top 20 /160 cars Is always a great achievement, but I know the car can go faster.

What has been done and why, how long did the build take?

Initially, the Nissan S14 ran a stock, refreshed RB25 engine and GET gearbox, 1000 cc injectors, cut & shut forward facing intake , Arc intercooler, TD06 25g turbo and drop knuckle rear end. That was it. Then the car is helped to slow down and stop by the team at Alpha Omega Racing utilizing their Evo Brembo brake adaptors front and rear giving the car an opportunity to run monster 355 mm rotors all round. Mitsubishi Evo calipers running side wide tires on the car meant I needed to expand the width of the car, so with the help of Corporal Industries the car now runs 55 mm pumped guards all round and some lighter body panels including the carbon bonnet

Video from Willunga Hill Climb

How has it evolved since? Anything you are doing to it now or plan to do?

The aim for this car is to refine the drivability and get some confidence in myself to push and win categories as we all aim for the trophy in some form. Next step is some aero and new tires. After that I’m just going to enjoy it for what it is and see where that takes me

Your favorite thing about your car?

My favorite part about the car besides the paint work is the noise it makes, being so unique and having multiple people always come up and ask what’s in it and telling me how good and aggressive it sounds. it’s a nice clean car which is different to what I’m known for, so hopefully I will keep it that way for a while.

Tell us about the team helping you with your race car.

My team is pretty simple and small, it’s basically built by myself as much as I can before it goes to my fabricator and some close friends with the support of my bank account! I look forward to the 2017 season and hopefully some good results

Cheers and see you out there.

Thank you, Andrew and best of luck for the season.