WORDS Brent vd Schyff PHOTOS  Simon Luckhoff

“A rising tide lifts all boats” Or in this case, a specialist prototype racer and the right attitude sharpens the game of endurance racing in South Africa.

The Norma Nova Proto NP02. A name I wager that you never knew existed, until now. I certainly had yet to learn of it, prior to a chat with Nick Adcock, who had done his homework before testing a first prototype in the South of France. “This is the best car I’ve driven, Brent”, were his first words to me about the car. I can appreciate those raw first feelings, but let's contextualise them. Nick has a long racing history, spanning various saloon based series to more recently local and international prototype endurance series. So despite the succinctness of the statement, the words carry historical weight. I sat down with the gentleman racer to unpack his journey, his time in South Africa, and how his Nova Proto NP02 could be a  game changer in the South African Endurance Series, being the first new prototype racer to enter the country in several years.

But the scene today, of space-age race car and shiny new transporter, supported by the Rico Barlow Racing team, is different from how it started. Dial back the clock, and you find that Nick’s racing story is punctuated with high and low points. At the start of it all, there are humble beginnings. Entering motorsport as a late bloomer in 2000, Nick raced a Rover Tomcat Turbo at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, circulating at the back of the field,  albeit not last. Driving home that night, he knew he was hooked. His journey then took him through two years in the UK VW Cup, followed by multiple seasons in Renault Clio Cup, a support series to the British Touring Car Championship. Nick looks back fondly at these years as where he sharpened his craft in competitive tin-top racing. We both share stories of the demands of motorsport on our lives and the oscillating moments of pit bottom lows and euphoric highs. There aren’t many of the latter but when they do arrive,  they have this unique way of keeping us coming back for more each time. It’s all part of the journey.

Nick’s racing story has been exactly that, a journey, rather than settling in a particular series or car. He has always chased something new. Perhaps some of us suffer from eternal discontent with the status quo,  but it ensures growth. Nick has had to start over a few times in life, but his tenacity to keep going is admirable, and his story is a book we can all take a page from. The journey eventually found him falling in love with endurance racing. Enter Sports Prototypes.

Naturally, you need some wins along the way to re-inject some confidence in you to maintain motivation. Nick found these via  many fastest laps in Clio Cup, two championships in the Cape Town regional “SuperCars” Series, two South African Endurance Series championships in the Ligier JS53 Evo2 and  winning the Asian Le Mans (Another Story for another time). Nick does, however, lay the disclaimer of not being ‘a natural’. I sense some self-deprecation here, but Nick reassures me that he has built his base skills by always surrounding himself with quicker drivers, in order to accelerate his learning. Again, another lesson for all aspirant racers.

Calling Cape Town home - a relatively unique story within a culture of so many emigrations, hearing of people settling here is refreshing. Nick reflects on the first meeting with local wheel man, Steve Humble, who set Nick up to race at Killarney. It’s a special place for Nick, referring to it as his home circuit and comparing it favourably against  his recent race at Hockenheim, a circuit that was incredibly bumpy. The grass, my friends, is not always greener on the other side. I’m left with a deeper sense of appreciation for my home track. 

A major milestone in Nick's   raising of the bar in local motorsport dates back to the 2016 arrival of the Ligier JS53 Evo which Nick introduced to compete in the South African Endurance Series. Very few prototypes existed locally at the time, and nothing of this calibre. It was the inflection point that shifted mindsets and the endurance racing scene as a whole. No longer would heavily modified road cars made into pseudo-GT cars cut it. It had a  domino effect that saw the old ways fall and, in its place, a completely new wave of attitude and machines appeared on the scene. A trend then kicked off of teams who would invest in proper GT3 cars, putting pressure on even LMP3 prototypes due to the lap times they achieved. We saw in the Killarney 9-hour last year, the very pinnacle of that with Marius Jackson bringing in an Audi R8 GT3 car piloted by  an Audi factory driver,Luca Engstler together with local aces Andrew Rackstraw and Kwanda Mokoena. That Audi smoked the competition to the point where the V10 noise is still ringing in people’s ears today. Evidence that this Ford Cayote V8 has its mission clearly defined.

Motorsport is a team sport. Having a car that can do the work or a sharp set of drivers is one thing, but it’s the support system that you don’t see behind the scenes that ultimately ensures success. The team from Rico Barlow Racing will be running the Nova along with the brand new transporter and a fresh influx of experience Rico received by spending a brief stint with the European Nova team, getting up to speed with this new platform. Again, another act in the drive towards greater professionalism, breaking that “big fish in a small pond” mentality South African motorsport has suffered from.

So here we are, at the second inflection point with the Nova Proto NP02, once again looking to reset the game. This time with a rich history and context behind it, driven by Nick. “The second wave…the second coming”…call it what you like, but the question remains…Will it live up to the hype? If Nick’s proven track record coupled  with all the lessons learnt and school fees paid are anything to go by, things look promising. But only time will tell. We can only say, for now, that this is an exciting moment for motorsport in South Africa. I just need to check my schedule for a seat fitting. Hint, cough.

Nova Proto Specifications -
Chassis: Full Carbon
Manufacturer: Norma Automotive based in Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre, France
Engine: Naturally Aspirated Ford Coyote V8 5.0 Litre
Engine Management: Motec
Suspension: 4-Way PKM
Brakes: AP Racing 6-Pot 355mm
Gearbox: SADEV SL90-20 Paddle Shift Hydraulic
Power: 323kW 540 NM
Top Speed: ***(All of it)

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