Lismore driver gets call to race $12 million Lamborghini at World Endurance Championship in Belgium

Nathan Herne has already made a name for himself racing TA2 cars in Australia and the US. (Facebook: Nathan Herne)

Nathan Herne was at the gym when he got the phone call he had waited his whole life for — a call-up to drive a $12 million racing car in one of the world’s most prestigious races.

A week later and the northern New South Wales driver is now en route to drive for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo team in the Belgian round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on May 11.

“Lucky for me one of their drivers had to pull out due to family commitments, so that opened the door for me,” the 21-year-old said.

“It’s going to be a pretty cool time.”

It is a dream job for someone who has spent almost their entire life behind the wheel.

Herne started out at the age of five racing go carts in his home town of Lismore, progressing through a long association with Formula Ford and on to driving muscle cars in Australia and the Trans Am Series in America.

More recently he has been leaving the helmet at home to work track side with the Trans Am and TA2 cars in Australia.

This week he will be reaching speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour in a 650-horsepower Lamborghini V10 around the track at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

The World Endurance Championship involves car manufacturers competing against each other in a series of endurance events around the globe.

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to race in the GT Series,” Herne said.

“Those cars, they are $12 million race cars, they are serious cars over there.

“As an Australian and especially from Lismore, you really don’t have an opportunity to race against the owners of Porsche and McLarens and Mercedes.

“It’s just going to be a really cool experience.”

Herne will have less than two hours once he gets in the car to run through his paces at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

He said this was not ideal, particularly as his track simulator blew up when he tried to load it after getting the call from Lamborghini.

“It’s not a lot of time considering I have to learn both the car and track combination,” he said.

“When you don’t know the car and you don’t know the track it’s borderline insanity to try to go fast, but I’ve got a really good team with me who have sent me a lot of data and footage to research.

“It’s very easy to go to a track and know what to expect nowadays.”

Family pride

Herne’s father, Stuart Herne, said the call-up was a great achievement.

“I believe that the more you put into things, the bigger the reward, and Nathan has certainly put a lot into racing,” Mr Herne said.

“It’s a lot of work. He’s committed to the gym life, he has to be super fit and eat right.

“For us, it makes it easy when they are so committed.

“That’s his life, he lives, eats and breathes racing, that’s his career path so we support him.”

The family will be also feeling the pressure as they watch the racing from home

“We’ve been around racing all our lives and it’s just another race track,” Mr Herne said of the infamous Belgian course, known for its scenery and tight corners.

“Everything is dangerous in life but you can’t look at it like that.”