About Middlehurst Garage

Middlehurst Garage (J. Middlehurst & Sons Ltd) was established in 1957 by Jack Middlehurst with his sons Philip and John Middlehurst.

Prior to this the Middlehurst family had been involved in the motor industry and motorsport since the early 1930's. Jack Middlehurst raced speedway motorcycles with his brother Tom across Great Britain and Europe and ran a salvage yard on Higher Parr Street in St Helens, which included buying and selling used cars and car parts.

After World War Two, Jack continued with the salvage business and then in the mid 1950's with his sons Philip and John acquired the site at Jackson Street (in which we still remain at today), built the garage and incorporated J. Middlehurst & Sons Ltd.

From there, Philip and his brother John acquired an Austin and Riley agency in 1958, which authorised the business to sell brand new vehicles for the first time

Philip Middlehurst

Whist running the business, Philip was involved with motorsport just like his father, competing across Great Britain, including circuits such as Oulton Park, Aintree, Silverstone, Brands Hatch (to name a few), in his J. Middlehurst & Sons Ltd race prepared Austin A40 and also his Austin and Morris Mini Cooper S'. Philip had a lot of success during his racing career with several victories and podiums over the years, having competed in the British Saloon Car Championship against the likes of Jim Clark and even raced in the European and British Grand Prix support races at Brands Hatch and Aintree in 1964.

Having been an Austin and Riley agency in the town for 15 years, J. Middlehurst & Sons Ltd then decided to become a Renault main agent, which lasted for 5 years up until 1978.

It was then in 1978 that Philip Middlehurst acquired the at the time 'Datsun' agency (Nissan Motor Company). In the early 1980's, Datsun changed it's brand name to 'Nissan'.

Whilst Philip was running the business, his son Andy, then aged 18, started in the business in 1980, working in the service and parts department, amongst other things.

Andy Middlehurst

Now third generation in the business, Andy also decided to start his motor racing career, firstly on grass track motorcycles. In 1980, he swapped two wheels for four, racing Formula Ford single-seaters. This included racing against names that would go on to be legendary in F1 such as Ayrton Senna and was also crowned Dunlop Star of Tomorrow Formula Ford 1600 Champion in 1982.

After hitting budget problems with the next step up the ladder Andy competed in several national rally championships between 1984 & 1986 in the UK and overseas in a Toyota Corolla AE86.

In 1987 Andy returned to the circuits in saloon car racing and in 1988 and 1989 he took a total of 14 wins to claim the Monroe Saloon Championship in a Volkswagen Golf. After this, Andy was crowned 1990 British Saloon Car Champion, which led to a drive in the prestigious British Touring Car Championship. His first full BTCC season came in 1991 for Graham Goode Racing in a Ford Sierra Cosworth. An impressive season saw him finish ninth in championship, including one podium in the final round at Silverstone.

In 1992, Andy was a works factory Nissan driver in the BTCC, alongside Keith Odor in the Nissan Primera eGT. Andy showed flashes of brilliance, but the team was hampered by a tyre issues throughout the season rendering them uncompetitive on most occasions. Despite this Andy was still able to show his talent securing some strong finishes throughout the year.

In 1993, Andy started competing in the National Saloon Championship. He won four back to back titles from 1995-1998. 1995 & 1996 saw Andy campaign the Middlehurst run Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R that we can trace the real beginnings of Middlehurst Motorsport back to. From then on, he won the 1996 & 1997 championships in a Group N+ class Nissan Primera GT.

Andy has regularly competed in historic motorsport since the mid 2000’s, campaigning all over the UK and Europe. Mostly regularly driving for Classic Team Lotus, racing Jim Clark's famous world championship winning Lotus 25 Formula 1 car. During this time Andy has won the Monaco Historic Grand Prix 3 times, in 2014, 2016 and 2018. He has also won the Glover Trophy at the Goodwood Revival meeting an incredible 7 times, the last victory of which was in September 2021.

Middlehurst and GT-R

The Middlehurst name has a rich history in motorsport, specifically with Nissan Skylines, being amongst the first in the UK to race Nissan Skyline GT-R's.

We started racing our R32 Skyline GT-R in 1994, competing in the National Saloon Car Championship in our Middlehurst Motorsport run Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R driven by our very own Andy Middlehurst.

Andy became National Saloon Car Champions in both 1995 and 1996 in the Skyline GT-R and also in 1997 and 1998 in our Nissan Primera GT.

Having won the National Saloon Car Championship twice in the Middlehurst Motorsport run Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, Middlehurst Garage then became the only Nissan dealership in the UK that was approved to sell the brand new UK specification Nissan Skyline R33 and R34 GT-R's.

Andy also raced at the Nürburgring 24 hour meeting in 1999, 2000 and 2001 in a Nissan Skyline R32 and R34 GT-R.

After the launch of the Nissan GT-R R35 in early 2008, Middlehurst Motorsport was officially appointed as one of a select number Nissan High Performance Centres (NHPC) across Europe.

When the European-spec order banks finally opened in the April, overnight we placed over 400 customer orders onto the Nissan system, in turn, becoming the world’s largest supplier of the new Nissan GT-R.

Since 2008 we have continued to service, maintain and supply brand new and used Nissan GT-R's, with over 800 units sold in total.

In 2021, over 25 years since our first involvement in racing our R32 Skyline GT-R, Managing Director Andy Middlehurst, now aged 59, was still winning races in a R32 Skyline GT-R, having competed in the HTCC Historic Touring Car Challenge Championship.

2022 will see Andy once again compete in the HTCC Historic Touring Car Challenge championship in the 1993 Group A Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R (GP-1), as well as blasting the car ‘up the hill’ at Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Chris Middlehurst

Andy's son Chris started in the business in 2011, first in the service department like his Father, whilst also completing his Advanced Level Apprenticeship in Automotive Engineering at the National College for Motorsport, based at Silverstone Race Circuit. Chris then started in the sales department in 2013, aged 18 as a new and used Nissan sales executive.

Chris' first steps on the motorsport ladder began in karting at his 10th birthday party. Being keen not to force his hobby on Chris, Andy had let Chris find his own love of motorsport. As a relative latecomer to karting Chris started in the Cadet class which has seen stars such as Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton show what they are capable of.
Under the watch eye of Middlehurst Motorsport, headed by father Andy Middlehurst, Chris progressed through the ranks of karting from Cadets, Rotax Mini Max and Junior Rotax claiming some notable wins, podiums and a club championship along the way.

In 2011, aged 16, Chris started racing in Formula Ford 1600 single seater racing cars and in an incredible first season, he was crowned Champion of Oulton Park, Northern Formula Ford 1600 Champion and National Formula Ford 1600 champion.

Chris then went on to race Formula Renault 2.0 single seaters in 2012 and 2013. After a brilliant first season in 2012 including some podium finishes, Chris was selected as one of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) Rising Stars. In 2013, Chris won the British Formula Renault championship. Later that year, he was also selected as one of the BRDC Autosport Award Finalists which was a shootout between 6 drivers to win a £100,000 prize and a test in a McLaren Formula 1 car.

2014 saw Chris move on to BRDC Formula 4. Having won the Formula Renault championship the previous year, Chris had his sights firmly set on the BRDC F4 championship. After a tough season with an uncompetitive car, having still manage to achieve numerous podiums and a race win, Chris decided to take a step back and focus on his career at the dealership, whilst still taking part in regular motorsport competition.

Since 2015, Chris has continued to compete in Formula Ford 1600 and historic racing cars. Some highlights include several demonstrations in various classic Formula 1 cars at Goodwood and at the Silverstone Grand Prix, taking a race win in an ex. Jim Hall 1960 Lotus 18 Formula 1 car at Silverstone in 2017 as well as scoring many Formula Ford 1600 podiums and race wins.

In 2021, Chris competed in his first full season of Formula Ford since 2011 and once again won the National Formula Ford 1600 Championship.

Chris also took 2nd place at Goodwood Revival, in the John Whitmore Trophy, battling against 30 other Mini's in the Middlehurst Garage prepared 1964 Morris Mini Cooper S race car.

Andy and Chris, third and fourth generation in the company, now run the business together day to day. Andy is Managing Director and Chris is Sales Manager and Director.