Nissan Claim Two Oddball Speed Records at Goodwood Festival

Without doubt, one of the highlights of this year’s edition of the famous Goodwood hill climb will be Nissan’s participation. And no, we’re not talking about the Sumo Power GT team’s GT1 race-winning Nissan GT-R, but for the Juke small crossover and the Leaf EV.
You see, the Japanese company has set its sights on claiming two special records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that takes place in Britain on 1-3 July with the aforementioned models.
With the pure-electric Leaf, Nissan will attempt to set a record for the fastest car ever to be driven up the hill climb course...in reverse. And unless something goes wrong, Nissan has a very good chance at it as unlike conventional gasoline / diesel -powered models, in which reverse gear allows only low speeds, the Leaf’s electric powertrain -in theory- enables it to be driven backwards as fast as it can move forwards.
While regular production models come with an electronic feature that stops the vehicle from reversing quickly, Nissan’s engineers disabled this feature on the Leaf that will participate in the hill climb next weekend. The Japanese company said that the modified Leaf will be able to reach speeds of up to 90mph [145 km/h] in reverse.
Nissan will also try to set another odd record with the Juke crossover, which will attempt to become the first four-wheeled machine to drive up the Goodwood Hill on two wheels.
Both the Juke and Leaf will be driven by professional stunt driver, Terry Grant, who will try to set the records by performing the stunts once every day.
“I’ve experienced Goodwood before but never attempted to set a new record,said Grant. “To have the chance to grab not only one but two records at the same event will hopefully provide everyone with a very entertaining spectacle,” he added.

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