The GT Cup is one of the United Kingdom’s top sportscar sprint series, consistently standing out to accomplished teams and drivers.
Few other series can match it for grid diversity, with everything from modern-day GT3s to cars with more than two decades of competition history behind them, all battling it out in a variety of classes such as GT3, GTO, GTH, and GTC.
The National Motorsport Academy has been involved in the GT Cup since 2012, when project founder Kevin Riley first took part. In that time, Team NMA has entered both an ex-works Lotus Evora that has raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a Mosler MT900 which won the GTO title in 2018.
But what is Team NMA?
Run by director of motorsport Dr. Kieran Reeves, deputy director Wayne Gater, and experienced tutor Ed Sarling, Team NMA is the National Motorsport Academy’s way of delivering real-world racing experiences to students across a variety of experience; from those who are just starting their motorsport career, to those who are studying a master’s and looking to refine certain skills.
GT Cup is known for having a competitive yet incredibly friendly paddock, serving as a perfect environment for students. Ultimately, the Team NMA garage serves as a classroom where up to 10 students every race weekend can actively contribute to every facet of the team’s journey – from set-up and testing to data analysis and tuning, forming a symbiotic relationship between their education and racing.
At the start of every season, students are invited to register their interest in a race as close to their hometown as possible.
2023 was a mixed year for Team NMA, which raced in the United Kingdom’s GT Cup series for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The season consisted of seven rounds with 4 races at each: two 25-minute ‘Sprint’ races and a pair of 50-minute ‘Pit-stop’ races.
Season Gets Under Way
The GT Cup campaign commenced with ambitious plans to race the NMA Mosler MT900. However, unforeseen challenges, including a cracked engine block and chassis repairs, resulted in that original plan being abandoned and the forging of a partnership with Rollcentre to use its Mosler. The first two rounds at Donington Park and Brands Hatch were hugely successful, and became a valuable learning experience for students, who actively participated in overcoming setbacks.
Ahead of the next few races, a major engine failure occurred in Rollcentre’s Mosler. This meant the team unfortunately missed…
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